LAPD claims scribes ‘stalked’: They didn’t

Police officers — anyone who works in any aspect of law enforcement — absolutely deserve, need and in fact do get way more privacy protections than the average citizen.

Their work taking down crooks and killers puts them in harm’s way not only when on duty, but all of the time. That includes not only offhours, but, truthfully, the rest of their lives. A really bad guy with a grudge against the cop who took him down is not going to care if she or he has retired from the force or moved into another line of work.

That’s very much why, if you’ve ever looked at an officer’s or deputy’s — or prosecutor’s, for that matter — driver’s license, the address on it is not their home, but their headquarters or City Hall.

That’s why, back when there was such a thing as a telephone book, police home phones were unlisted.

But working in law enforcement, at least in the United States, does not give a person any guarantee that their front door will not be knocked on, or that they are unapproachable in public, or that they have some right not to be questioned.

But those non-existent rights are exactly what Los

Angeles Police Department brass are claiming for their officers who were involved in the heinous, wrongheaded, wildly dangerous purposeful explosion of illegal fireworks they had confiscated in an LAPD armored vehicle not up to the task that blew up much of a South Los Angeles neighborhood in 2021.

Los Angeles Times reporters went to the home of one of the officers involved in the botched operation, whose name was being publicly released for the first time, to ask her if she wanted to comment for the story. They left the property of Sgt. Stefanie Alcocer when she asked them to and said she had no comment.

For this supposed sin — asking questions is how journalists earn their keep — LAPD Chief Michel Moore accused reporters Libor Jany and Brittny Mejia of ethical lapses where no such lapses occurred, and the police union accused them of “stalking” the sergeant — “Random people knocking on our doors, following us, or stalking us until we get home is wrong” is what the union said about journalists just doing their jobs: Informing the public about the news, uncomfortable though that may be for powerful people.