The Felony Charges Against The LAPD Whistleblower Have Been Downgraded, But Why Is He Still Charged At All? [Op-Ed]

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Well, well, well — it turns out you can shame the Devil.

Earlier this month, we reported that Daniel Flores, an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, was charged with 16 felony counts of eavesdropping on or recording confidential communications, charges that could have resulted in a 13-year prison sentence if convicted, after he filed an internal affairs complaint against his LAPD colleagues containing recordings of them making racist, homophobic, and sexist comments. Instead of taking any meaningful action against the bigoted cops tasked with protecting and serving the public, LA District Attorney Nathan Hochman decided that the message that needed to be sent was one that punished the whistleblower for secretly recording the private conversations of said officers.

This, of course, outraged civilians across the city, and now Hochman has changed his tune, opting to downgrade the felony charges against Flores to misdemeanors because he still needs to send his goofy, pro-racist cop message to the public, but he doesn’t want to erode what little trust many people have left in law enforcement. At the very least, though, Flores will avoid jail time if convicted of the downgraded charges.

From ABC 7:

Hochman said once the charges are reduced to misdemeanors, Flores’ attorney will likely ask for the officer to be placed into a court diversion program that could result in the charges being dismissed after a year if Flores does not commit any other offenses. Flores had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning, but that hearing was postponed until Thursday, when the charges could be formally reduced.

Hochman said a felony conviction could have led to state prison time for Flores, and he did not want the case to deter other potential whistleblowers from coming forward due to fear of criminal prosecution.

“Our office works every single day with individuals who are whistleblowers who have brought wrongdoing forward through legitimate means,” Hochman said. “… We count on witnesses coming forward, showing the bravery to actually expose the criminal conduct, sometimes at a sacrifice to their own potential safety, and we make sure that safety is respected and protected at each point in the process.”

Hochman emphasized that he and his office still believe Flores violated the law, but he said he listened to community members and others who made their opposition to the felony charges known, and that’s what led to his decision to reduce the charges.

“In fact, the response back in many different quarters, whether it was from community members, elected officials, various individuals, was that this type of prosecution, because we used felony charges that could result in state prison, would actually chill legitimate whistleblowers who were potentially thinking of coming forward, because they would be worried about being criminally prosecuted from the District Attorney’s Office,” he said. “And the distinction that we were making — that whistleblowers, if they engage in lawful means to gather their evidence, would never be prosecuted — was being somewhat lost in the media and as we went out through the general community.”

First of all, Hochman seems to be trying to blame “the media” for the bad press he brought on himself by bringing 16 felony charges against a cop who called out racist, misogynistic, and homophobic cops in one of the most liberal cities in the nation. Secondly, he seems to be making a distinction between Flores and “legitimate whistleblowers,” which is telling in and of itself.

Still, this statement clearly diverges from his statement announcing the felony charges against Flores.

“This case serves as a warning to anyone seeking to record a conversation without the other person’s permission that doing so is illegal and has been a crime in the state of California for over 50 years,” the statement read. “It doesn’t matter where you work or who you are – a neighbor, a coworker or, in this case, a police officer. Your right to privacy in a confidential conversation is protected, no matter who is doing the recording or, with few exceptions, why they are doing the recording.”

Of course, there is one thing that all the above statements have in common: they don’t mention the remarks made by the 16 racist cops for whom Flores was charged with 16 felonies, according to Hochman.

Actually, according to the Associated Press, Hochman did mention what he characterized as “hate speech,” which he condemned, but he said that there wasn’t evidence that they amounted to a hate crime, which prevented his office from criminally prosecuting those who made the comments.

When we first reported this story, the contents of what Flores recorded hadn’t been made public. Well, now some of those comments have been reported.

From AP:

The recordings Flores shared with LAPD internal affairs showed other officers making a wide array of offensive comments. Officers joked about a famous Latino baseball pitcher dying from eating “too many tacos,” invoked racist tropes about Black people, and on one occasion called a young LAPD recruit “rapeable” because they were “someone who could be taken advantage of,” according to a motion filed by the district attorney’s office.

So, I guess we’d have to wait for a female colleague of these cops to actually be raped or “taken advantage of” before legal action can be taken, just as we’d have to wait until these racist cops actually violate the rights and humanity of the Black and brown civilians they police, if they’re even held accountable then.

Before the felony charges were filed against him, Flores had filed a lawsuit against the city in June, alleging that he was subjected to a hostile workplace beginning in about late 2021 when a new supervisor took over the LAPD’s recruitment division and “repeatedly made derogatory statements and fostered an environment in which other employees were encouraged to do the same,” according to ABC. 

Flores claimed his co-workers made comments calling women “bitches who cannot be trusted,” made derogatory remarks about Asians and Hispanics, including the comment that former Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela died because “he ate too many tacos,” made various racist remarks about Black people, including a comment that they “enjoy watermelon between basketball,” and made homophobic comments, referring to someone they called a “gay-ass bitch,” and “the little gay one,” among other remarks.

According to AP, the LAPD said it opened confidential disciplinary hearings against the officers who made the comments, but the department has not said whether anyone has been disciplined.

Yeah — I wouldn’t hold my breath on that. If this many police officers were this comfortable having discussions of this nature right out in the open while in each other’s company, that’s about more than just “a few bad apples” — it’s cop culture, and it’s far more concerning than police whistleblowers who didn’t follow procedure.

SEE ALSO:

LAPD Officer Punished For Telling The Truth About Other Cops

LAPD Kills Woman’s Dog During Response To Noise Complaint

LAPD Caught In Racist Recording Scandal