The Los Angeles Police Protective League—the largest Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) union representing over 9,000 sworn officers—filed a formal complaint against the department on March 20 for accidentally releasing the names and photos of several undercover officers to a watchdog group.
In mid-March, the police watchdog group Stop LAPD Spying Coalition—a grassroots anti-police surveilling group—launched “Watch the Waters,” an online database to search any LAPD officer by name or serial number.
But the LAPD mistakenly released the names and photos of several undercover officers to the group the weekend of March 17.
The union found out about the exposed officer information through a Los Angeles Times reporter on March 16, according to a letter the union sent to the LAPD Police Commission on March 20. The reporter informed union spokesperson Tom Saggau about the website and that the sensitive information regarding the undercover officers was public….