He Recorded Alleged Bigotry Inside LAPD. Now He’s Facing 16 Felony Charges

By Sean Beckner-Carmitchel

LOS ANGELES — After secretly recording conversations that he felt were racist, homophobic and sexist by fellow officers, an LAPD officer handed them over to the department’s Internal Affairs Division. In June, he filed a lawsuit against the LAPD and City of Los Angeles alleging he was unfairly targeted after handing them over. Now, that officer faces 16 felony counts of eavesdropping on or recording confidential communications.

If convicted as charged, he faces up to 13 years in state prison.

Daniel Flores, 43, is accused of secretly recording portions in 2024 of conversations without the knowledge or consent of the officers involved, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Some of the conversations “allegedly included sexist, homophobic and racist remarks,” according to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.”

“Not the officers who were recorded using racial, sexist and anti-gay slurs,” attorney Alan Jackson told the Los Angeles Times in a report about the charges. “Not the officers who sat in a government building and said those things while holding the power to decide who becomes an LAPD officer. The officer who reported them.”

Jackson told the Los Angeles Times the case sends a message that “if you document bigotry inside the LAPD, you will be the one who ends up in a courtroom.”

The charges follow an internal affairs investigation into Flores. According to a lawsuit Flores filed against the city in June, he made roughly 90 recordings between March and October 2024 while working in the department’s recruitment division.

The department found Flores guilty of policy violations and recommended a 22-day suspension without pay. LAPD Chief Chief Jim McDonnell has not finalized the discipline. Mayor Karen Bass and the police union have both condemned the existence of the recordings and the alleged remarks.

The lawsuit by Flores claims he was “subjected to numerous statements he considered to be derogatory towards himself and others based on race, national origin, sex/gender, and sexual orientation.” Flores claims he overheard a supervisor remark that an “Asian invasion,” was ongoing within the department. His supervisors and colleagues referred to women as “bitches,” according to claims within the lawsuit; another claim in the suit says officers said women in the department “start problems.” Other comments within the lawsuit said supervisors targeted comments about Black and Mexican people.

District Attorney Hochman stated: “We deplore the sexist, homophobic and racist remarks made by certain LAPD employees, and they should be held accountable for such statements.”

Secretly recording the officers was a violation of California 2-party consent laws regarding recordings, according to Hochman. Hochman’s statement said “California has been one of the nation’s leaders in protecting privacy and deterring illegal eavesdropping for over a half a century, one cannot simply choose to break the law because one wants to pursue a personal agenda.”

The Los Angeles Police Department declined to comment on the criminal case or ongoing lawsuit. “The Los Angeles Police Department does not comment on open or pending litigation,” department spokesman Officer Jeff Lee said.

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners, the board responsible for oversight of LAPD, said they have no comment.

Flores is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 10 in Department 30 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.