LAPD Accuses Anti-Cop Site Of Offering ‘Bounties’ On Officers
After the names of more than 9,300 Los Angeles Police Department officers — including many who were working undercover — were released to an anti-police organization called the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, those individuals have been targeted by another group that appeared to offer a bounty for their deaths.
Now, the Los Angeles Police Protective League is taking the owner of KillerCop.org to court on behalf of three officers who were named in the list.
The lawsuit is calling for the photos of Adam Gross, Adrian Rodriguez, and Douglas Panameno, along with other identifying information, to be removed from the site.
In social media posts, Sutcliffe — using the profile name “killercop1984” — has used provocative rhetoric that the LAPPL insists is tantamount to offering a bounty of up to $2,000 to individuals who kill LAPD officers.
Citing the very allegations against him in one post, Sutcliffe reportedly wrote: “Remember, #Rewards are double all year for #detectives and #female cops.”
In another post linking to the site’s database, the Twitter profile touted its “[c]lean head-shots on these #LAPD officers.”
Police Chief Michel Moore responded to the situation by expressing his regret that the information about the officers was ever released.
“I understand personally, given my own death threats and on matters of me as a public figure and my family has endured as a chief and even before that, how troubling this can be to a member of this organization, and even more so to those that are involved in sensitive and/or confidential investigations,” he said.
As for Sutcliffe’s actions, Moore seems to agree that they are not only dangerous but illegal, noting that anyone using the information in such a manner can expect harsh consequences.
“We have people who have taken the list and are now criminally, we believe, making threats against the safety of officers, calling for a bounty and awarding a bounty for individuals who would go out and kill a cop,” he said.
Posts like those shared by Sutcliffe go beyond “intimidation,” the chief added, explaining that they are “threatening” and could be criminal in nature.
“This is one of those things that I worried about and feared when we released these photographs ostensibly to be transparent, that others were going to use them to threaten our officers.”
Sutcliffe has defended his behavior and says the “vindictive and frivolous” lawsuit against him is “filled with lies.”
