An LAPD union is suing a website called killercop.com, alleging it placed bounties on officers’ heads after their pictures and personal information were released to the public.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League filed the lawsuit Friday on behalf of officers Adam Gross, Adrian Rodriguez and Douglas Panameno.
Steven Sutcliffe, the site’s owner, has vehemently denied the claims, calling them “malicious” and from an application “full of lies”.
It comes after the LAPD released pictures and names of thousands of officers — mistakenly including many, many of whom work with the Mexican mafia and drug cartels — in response to a request for public records.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) is taking legal action against killercop.com website owner Steven Sutcliffe, alleging that bounties were placed on cops after their headshots and personal information were leaked to the public
LAPD detective and LAPPL director Jamie McBride said he believes the “reckless behavior” will incite “violence” against police officers
LAPD detective and LAPPL director Jamie McBride told Fox News that he believes the “reckless behavior” will incite “violence” against police officers.
“This has never happened to me before my 32-year career, this is new territory for all of us,” said McBride.
“These officers are very dedicated to their investigations. They will now take precautions and constantly look over their backs on the way home from work.
The lawsuit cites tweets from Sutcliffe’s now-banned Twitter profile @KillerCop1984, which allege he suggested rewarding people for killing LAPD officers and is said to have posted a tweet saying “double” for “detectives and female police officers” was offered.
It also claims a link to the database is included along with the caption “clean headshots at these #LAPD officers.” A to Z’ was also posted on Sutcliffe’s now-suspended account.
Sutcliffe has repeatedly defended his right to criticize the LAPD, stating on his website that claims of bounties are false and that the website is “not an anti-police website.”
Sutcliffe has already gotten into legal trouble over online threats.
In 2003, he was convicted in federal court of a felony for using a website he created to threaten executives at Global Crossing Ltd., a Beverly Hills fiber optic network company, from which he was fired twice.
Sutcliffe said on the website that he loves and respects lawful authority and lawful police action.
“They are gods, angels and messengers to protect the weak and helpless. There is no higher calling on God’s earth,” he complains.
“What I hate and detest is when people exercise unlawful authority and abuse their authority. These are evil devils, snakes and scorpions.”
The lawsuit cites tweets from Sutcliffe’s now-banned Twitter profile @KillerCop1984, which allege he suggested rewarding people for killing LAPD officers and is said to have posted a tweet saying “double” for “detectives and female police officers” was offered.
The LA Times reported that the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, an anti-police group, posted information about officers to an online database called Watch the Watchers, which allows users to search for officers by name or serial number.
Users are then taken to a profile page of the wanted officer, including photo, serial number, ethnicity, and year hired.
“This website is intended as a tool to empower community members who are concerned with Copwatch and other countersurveillance practices,” the group wrote on its website.
“You can use it to identify officers who are causing harm in your community. The site’s user-friendliness also makes it a political statement, reversing the direction of surveillance against state agents.
“The police have extensive information on all of us at their fingertips, but they operate in secret.”
It was later revealed that the LAPD had released the names and information of undercover officers to the anti-police group as part of a public request for information – hundreds of whom are likely to compromise their positions by doing so.
Chief Michael Moore admitted to Fox News that the department “made a huge mistake” and said he “deeply regrets the mistake happened”.
“I personally understand how troubling this can be for a member of this organization, and even more so for those in sensitive ones, given my own death threats and in relation to me as a public figure and my family who persevered as boss and even before and/or confidential investigations involved,” Moore told lawofficer.com.
Sutcliffe said on the website that he loves and respects lawful authority and lawful police action. The lawsuit followed the union filing a formal grievance over the handling of the photo data
Moore said the list was taken and used to “threaten the safety of officers”.
“We have people who have taken the list and are now criminals, we believe, making threats to officers’ safety, taking a bounty on their heads, and putting a bounty on people’s heads who would go out and kill a cop,” Moore explained.
‘Two things we screwed up. First, we should have told our people when we reached an agreement and we should have told them the basis for it. Second, we made a mistake in providing the list by not identifying all individuals within the organization who were involved in sensitive undercover operations that should be kept from them.’
“I will stand by what I said. I have no reason to lie. I think if we screw up, we have to admit it.
The lawsuit followed the union filing a formal grievance over the handling of the photo data.
The complaint was filed against Moore and Lizabeth Rhodes, director of the LAPD’s Office of Constitutional Policing.
McBride warned that the release of information is likely to have a significant impact on hiring – at a time when the department is already understaffed.
“This is going to have a big, big impact on recruitment because we’re already understaffed at over a thousand officers and it’s difficult for us to get anyone to take the test to get into this police department,” McBride said.
“Now who wants to come into this department with this big mistake? So again, this is a very dangerous situation and it is very reckless of Police Superintendent Liz Rhodes to do this.