Los Angeles cops are struggling in the wake of the mass release of information on thousands of officers, including hundreds who work undercover, which included their names, ethnicities, assignments and photographs.
The information went out in response to a public records request, however, according to the police union, photos of undercover officers should not have been included with the material.
“It’s dicey, very dangerous,” said Betsy Brantner Smith, a longtime police sergeant and the spokesperson for the National Police Association. “The photograph part of it is very concerning.”
Separately, with the county prosecutor increasingly going after police accused of bad behavior, identifying information on those officers is being made public in press releases and court filings. However, experts tell Fox News Digital, there are ways to minimize your publicly accessible footprint online.
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The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has for years included dates of birth, along with suspects’ names, in his press releases, and a spokesperson for DA George Gascon told Fox News Digital that the practice has been in place long before he took office.
“Some undercovers don’t want to be reassigned. They don’t want to be put in safe positions. It’s something that was no fault of our own. We did nothing wrong.”
“The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has maintained a protocol of including a defendant’s DOB in news releases for the last two decades in order to specifically identify the appropriate person,” Gascon’s office said in a statement. “Additionally, when a complaint is filed, the DOB is on the document and the document is a part of the public record.”
Experts say it’s an unnecessary inclusion that puts the safety of officers and their families in jeopardy.
“There’s no reason to put these police…
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