LOS ANGELES - Five LAPD officers who say commanders enforced an illegal quota system tied to gang contacts and gun-related arrests and seizures — then retaliated when officers spoke out — are headed to trial after a Los Angeles judge refused to dismiss most of their claims.
The ruling keeps alive a consolidated whistleblower case brought by officers who allege LAPD supervisors inside the department’s Metropolitan Division favored high “recap” numbers and punished officers who spoke out against the practice or were believed likely to do so. According to the lawsuit, the retaliation included taking officers’ guns and badges, assigning them to home duty and other career-impairing actions.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Small ruled Monday that five of the six plaintiffs can proceed. Lead plaintiff Samantha Fiedler, who first sued in August 2020, will move forward along with officers Mario Fernandez, Julio Garcia, Rene Braga and John Walker. Officer Raul Uribe’s claims were dismissed after the judge found the retaliatory acts he relied on were not included in his complaint.
In the ruling, Small said the officers had presented evidence that LAPD “targeted them because they either had spoken out against LAPD policy on inflating gang statistics or because the LAPD believed that they would speak out.”
Fiedler, in a sworn declaration, described a Metropolitan Division system focused on “recap,” which she said included arrests, tickets and documented encounters with...
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