Details of undercover police officers have been published online by a technology watchdog group in a move that has sparked safety fears.
The officers are among more than 9,300 law enforcement workers whose details were handed to the group Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, which then posted them online in a searchable database.
The database includes each officer’s name, ethnicity, rank, date of hire, badge number and division or bureau.
It is not clear how many of the officers were undercover.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore offered his “deep apologies” to the undercover officers, who were not told in advance of the disclosure.
“We will look to what steps or added steps can be taken to safeguard the personal identifiers of our membership,” he added.
Ben Camacho, a reporter for The Knock LA, said he filed a request for the records as well as a lawsuit last year to get the photos.
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The city attorney’s office said the agency was legally required to turn over the records under California law, although exemptions are often made for safety or investigative reasons.
‘Police have vast information about all of us, yet they move in secrecy’
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But Mr Camacho said on Twitter that the police department had not previously raised the issue of officer safety in arguing against the release of the information.
The searchable database of the officers’ details was revealed late last week by Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, which said it should be used for “counter-surveillance”.
The organisation added: “You can use it to identify officers who are causing harm in your community.
“Police have vast information about all of us at their fingertips, yet they move in secrecy.”
Details published for ‘public education and community awareness’
Stop LAPD Spying Coalition organiser Hamid Khan told Fox News that all of the information on the officers were “public records”, adding that the group had published it “in service of public education and community awareness”.
Officers’ home addresses are not on the website, it was reported.
Concerns for safety of officers working in “sensitive assignments’
Meanwhile, an investigation has been launched into Mr Moore and constitutional policing director Liz Rhodes after the Los Angeles Police Protective League – the union that represents officers – filed a misconduct complaint against them over the incident.
In a statement on their website, the league said that the disclosure “will endanger police officers – especially those working in sensitive assignments”.
It said that it would work to ensure those officers “are accorded the appropriate security to keep them and their families safe”, adding: “The league is rapidly evaluating with both internal and external legal counsel any judicial remedy to this egregious affront to our members’ safety”.
President Trump has signed an order banning people from 12 countries from entering the US.
He said Sunday’s attack in Colorado had shown “the extreme dangers” of “foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come as temporary visitors and overstay their visas”.
“We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm,” the president said.
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The countries affected are: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The White House said some had a “significant terrorist presence” and accused others of poor screening for dangerous individuals, as well as not accepting deported citizens.
People from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela will face partial restrictions.
Mr Trump’s proclamation said America must ensure people entering don’t have “hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles” – and don’t support terror groups.
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Image: Protests took place when Mr Trump announced his first travel ban in 2017. Pic: Reuters
The move echoes a controversial and chaotic order enacted eight years ago during his first term, when he banned people from predominately Muslim countries.
The countries initially targeted then were Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
President Trump said on Thursday that policy was a “key part of preventing major foreign terror attacks on American soil”.
His new list notably removes Syria after Mr Trump met the country’s leader recently on a trip to the Middle East.
Athletes competing in the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics will also be exempt, as will others such as permanent US residents and Afghans with special immigrant visas.
Trump cites ‘what happened in Europe’ to justify new ban
President Trump hailed travel restrictions imposed during his first term as “one of our most successful policies”.
It was also one of the most controversial, with what became known as “the Muslim ban” sparking widespread protest. Thousands gathered at US airports to oppose the detainment of travellers arriving from affected countries.
The then German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said the fight against terrorism didn’t justify suspicion of people based on their faith. Her French counterpart at the time, President Hollande, warned against the dangers of isolationism.
Still smarting perhaps from that criticism, Trump announced his new ban with a commitment to “not let what happened in Europe happen to America”.
In addition to restrictions on 12 countries and partial restrictions on another seven, he warned others could be added as “threats emerge around the world”.
In a second proclamation, the US president escalated his war with Harvard University, suspending international visas for new students and authorising the secretary of state to consider revoking existing ones.
Having blamed Joe Biden for “millions and millions” of “illegals” in America, he issued a third proclamation ordering an investigation into the use of autopen during Biden’s presidency.
In a memorandum, President Trump claimed his predecessor’s aides used autopen to sign bills in a bid to cover up his cognitive decline.
If we didn’t know what the Trump administration meant when they talked about “flooding the zone”, we know now.
The list was put together after the president asked homeland security officials and the director of national intelligence to compile a report on countries whose citizens could pose a threat.
The ban takes effect from 9 June – but countries could be removed or added.
The proclamation states it will be reviewed within 90 days, and every 180 days after, to decide if it should be “continued, terminated, modified, or supplemented”.
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President Trump’s first travel restrictions in 2017 were criticised by opponents and human rights groups as a “Muslim ban”.
It led to some chaotic scenes, including tourists, students and business travellers prevented from boarding planes – or held at US airports when they landed.
Mr Trump denied it was Islamophobic despite calling for a ban on Muslims entering America in his first presidential campaign.
It faced legal challenges and was modified until the Supreme Court upheld a third version in June 2018, calling it “squarely within the scope of presidential authority”.
An aide to Mr Putin also told reporters that they vowed to stay in constant contact, with the Russian president telling Mr Trump that recent talks between Russian and Ukrainianofficials in Istanbul were useful.
The US president added that he and Mr Putin also discussed “the fact that time is running out on Iran’sdecision pertaining to nuclear weapons, which must be made quickly,” before accusing Tehran of “slow-walking their decision”.
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New Ukraine drone attack video analysed
Russia ‘giving the finger’ – Zelenskyy
Later, Mr Zelenskyy, in a social media post, called for more pressure on Russia to end the war, saying: “Many have spoken with Russia at various levels.
“But none of these talks have brought a reliable peace, or even stopped the war. Unfortunately, Putin feels impunity.”
The Ukrainian leader added that “with every new strike, with every delay of diplomacy, Russia is giving the finger to the entire world – to all those who still hesitate to increase pressure on it”.
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It comes after Russia’s foreign minister claimed that Mr Zelenskyy refused a proposal for a pause lasting two to three days to pick up the bodies of dead servicemen.
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Elon Musk has criticised US President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, calling it “outrageous” and a “disgusting abomination”.
The bill, which includes multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks, was passed by the House Republicans in May, and has been described by the president as a “big, beautiful bill”.
The tech billionaire hit out at the tax cuts on his platform X, writing: “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore.
“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Image: Elon Musk left his ‘special government employee’ role last week. Pic: AP.
In American politics, “pork” is a political metaphor used when government spending is allocated to local projects, usually to benefit politicians’ constituencies.
The White House brushed Musk’s comments aside, claiming they did not surprise the president.
In a press conference on Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill”.
She added: “This is one, big, beautiful bill.
“And he’s sticking to it.”
The White House on Tuesday asked Congress to cut back $9.4bn in already approved spending, taking money away from DOGE.
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What did Musk achieve at DOGE?
The billionaire tweeted: “It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!!) and burden American citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
He also suggested voting out politicians who advanced the president’s tax bill.
“In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” Musk wrote in another X post.
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Questions have also been raised about whether the department has actually saved taxpayers as much money as suggested.
Musk initially had ambitions to slash government spending by $2trn (£1.5trn) – but this was dramatically reduced to $1trn (£750bn) and then to just $150bn (£111bn).
Image: Elon Musk brought his son X Æ A-12 to the Oval Office during a press conference earlier this year. Pic: Reuters.
He recently told The Washington Post: “The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realised. I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC to say the least.”
By law, status as a “special government employee” means he could only serve for a maximum of 130 days, which would have ended around 30 May.