LAPD officers’ offensive comments are worse than the privacy violation

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To the editor: There are two offenses here (“LAPD officer who recorded colleagues’ racist, homophobic comments may face criminal case,” July 9).

The most offensive, to me, are the racist, sexist and homophobic comments made by the officers, which were secretly recorded by Officer Daniel Flores and turned over to his superiors. The second and lesser offense, to me, is that the recording was allegedly made in violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act.

Flores maintains that his recordings came as part of a “lawful investigation as a police officer.”

The so-called “blue code” or “blue wall of silence,” the unwritten rule about not reporting fellow officers’ bad acts, is widely recognized as a major barrier to police accountability, eroding public trust.

Officer Flores is already suspended without pay. He is outed to his fellow officers whose adherence to the “blue code” may well put him in danger of retaliation for his perceived disloyalty.

On the contrary, I believe he is upholding a higher standard of loyalty to the integrity and trustworthiness of the Los Angeles Police Department by reporting such language spoken on the job. In the privacy of the locker room? That should not be an acceptable place for such language. In fact, beliefs along the lines spoken by those officers, once broadcast to others on the job, disqualify them from honorable service in the department.

We need to support higher standards. How else will people know it’s not acceptable and reconsider their positions?

I say, “Bravo, Officer Flores.”

Dan Brumer, Encino

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