Huntington Beach comes to blows over library books
By Alexei Koseff | CalMatters
Published June 3, 2025 10:23 AM
Opponents of Measures A and B display book titles they want removed from the children’s section of the library during an event at Lake Park in Huntington Beach on May 31, 2025.
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Mette Lampcov
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CalMatters
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Topline:
Huntington Beach will vote next week on whether to repeal a community review board for library material. It’s a test of the conservative city council’s growing clout and the national movement to restrict access to sexual content in children’s books.
Why it matters: The election — the culmination of nearly two years of tense clashes over sexual content in children’s books, parental rights and censorship — carries the weight of more than just the future of the local library.
The backstory: Amid a surging national book banning movement, the debate arrived in Huntington Beach two summers ago, when then-new Councilmember Gracey Van Der Mark — a locally notorious activist who made it her cause célèbre to get what she deems sexual content out of the children’s section — first proposed reviewing and restricting access to certain library material.
Read on... for what opponents and supporters of A&B say about ballot measures.
The simmering battle over the public library in Huntington Beach erupted again this spring when provocative signs cropped up around town overnight.
“Protect our kids from porn,” the placards warned in bold red letters. Funded by a city councilmember’s political action committee, they urged people to vote against a pair of ballot measures in an upcoming special election, including one that would abolish a controversial new community review board for library books.
As parents dropping off their children spotted the blunt message near elementary schools that April morning, outrage began to spread online over the delicate explanations it required for kids who were far too young to understand. One man declared on social media that he cut the word “porn” out of 12 signs and delivered the pieces to city hall.
“Frankly, it reads more like a tactic to provoke than a message grounded in conservative values, and that’s something I believe we should rise above,” the man said in a video posted to a popular Facebook forum.
Now, with only a week remaining before the election, proponents of the ballot measures to roll back library restrictions are hoping enough of those frustrated, weary parents in this Orange County beach community show up to carry them to victory.
As complaints about obscene material being available to young readers dragged even the once-beloved library into the fray, the increasingly marginalized liberal residents of Huntington Beach have mobilized — and floundered. Not unlike the national Democratic Party, which has grappled with how to counteract the full-throttle early months of President Donald Trump’s second term, their struggle to curb the breakneck transformation of their city’s identity have left many wondering how far the council can push its revolution.
“It’s just a war being waged on the community by people in an attempt to gain power,” said Natalie Moser, a former member of a liberal council minority who was ousted in November. She has criticized the Huntington Beach conservatives for reframing all of city politics as a partisan fight. “People are easier to manipulate when they’re divided, when they don’t see each other as people but just another side.”
Opponents of Measures A and B display book titles they want removed from the children’s section of the library during an event at Lake Park in Huntington Beach on May 31, 2025.
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Mette Lampcov
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CalMatters
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The most optimistic believe the “protect our kids from porn” signs could be a turning point, waking up apolitical voters and swaying moderates in this Republican-leaning community to reject the restrictions on library material. If the ballot measures pass next week, they hope it will send a signal that residents want the city council to refocus on the fundamentals of municipal governance — public safety, road maintenance and economic development.
“It’s just so disheartening to see our city council turn this city against itself,” said Erin Spivey, one of several Huntington Beach librarians who quit in the past two years because of city interventions that they considered repressive. “People are getting really sick and tired of the city council overstepping what they are supposed to be doing. They’re supposed to be making our community better.”
'Let the community decide' on kids books
Amid a surging national book banning movement, the debate arrived in Huntington Beach two summers ago, when then-new Councilmember Gracey Van Der Mark — a locally notorious activist who made it her cause célèbre to get what she deems sexual content out of the children’s section — first proposed reviewing and restricting access to certain library material.
Van Der Mark is alarmed by a contemporary wave of picture books and sex education manuals that she feels goes far beyond what is appropriate for young readers and could damage kids who accidentally encounter the material before they are ready.
“The last thing you want is a child to pick up a book and have a big picture of penises or instructions for how to masturbate,” she said in an interview.
The city council eventually adopted an ordinance establishing a 21-member community board to review library books for “textual or graphic references to sex, sexual organs, sex acts, relationships of sexual nature, or sexual relations in any form.” The board would have the authority to move the material to the adult section or prevent the library from purchasing it in the first place, though it has yet to be seated, in part because of a subsequent state law prohibiting these types of committees.
Van Der Mark compares the concept to the movie ratings system, arguing that it would empower parents by giving them more say in what their children read. She complained that librarians who reject the community input because they believe they know better are elitist.
“Librarians are human. They are human. They are not perfect, just like you and I are not perfect. Mistakes are going to be made,” she said. “Let the community decide. Let the community give their input on whether they think those books meet their community standards.”
But the opposition to library book restrictions has been fierce and sustained, frequently spilling into long, rancorous public comment sessions at city council meetings. Free speech advocacy groups have joined, including the ACLU, which filed a lawsuit earlier this year.
Critics say they fear the book review committee would allow the city council to assert more control over the library and eventually ban material that doesn’t align with its conservative views.
They are especially concerned that many of the books Van Der Mark and her allies have singled out are LGBTQ-themed. Some see warning signs in the recent cancellation of a library book club for gay novel “The Guncle” and a Facebook post by another city councilmember tying the “dramatic alarming rise” in LGBTQ identification among young people to the “explosion of LGBTQ+ literature.”
“What they’re trying to do is exert their moral standards on others — and that’s unacceptable in society,” said Gina Clayton-Tarvin, a member of a local school district board that endorsed the ballot measures. “This is almost like attacking what is American.”
Lindsay Klick, a Huntington Beach parent and a longtime librarian in Orange County, said library collections should be expansive, so that everyone can find books that interest them and decide for themselves what they want to read.
“The library is not a winner-take-all thing like an election,” she said.
She criticized the city council for manufacturing outrage over sexual content in the library by selectively highlighting small excerpts from books out of their context, as if cropping the crotch from a picture of the statue of David.
Carol Daus looks at books in the children’s section of the Huntington Beach Central Library that could be restricted for including sexual content on May 31, 2025.
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Mette Lampcov
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CalMatters
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Carol Daus looks at books in the children’s section of the Huntington Beach Central Library that could be restricted for including sexual content on May 31, 2025.
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Mette Lampcov
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CalMatters
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It’s an effective strategy for politicians looking to raise their profiles as they seek higher office; Van Der Mark, who launched a bid for state Assembly last month, is the latest.
But it’s not a true reflection of how library patrons feel, Klick said, like at the small Orange County branch where she works near the Air Force base in Los Alamitos, which has the same books that the Huntington Beach city council has objected to.
“No one complains. It’s not a problem,” she said. “Why? Because we don’t have Gracey Van Der Mark.”
Ground zero in the national book battle
A special election in Huntington Beach carries high stakes for the national battle over children’s library books.
Library supporters collected thousands of signatures last fall for the pair of ballot measures; the second would limit the city’s ability to outsource library services, after the city council briefly explored privatizing the library last year. The council called a special election for June 10, rather than adopting the proposals outright or placing them on the ballot in 2026.
The outcome has become deeply important for the conservatives backing the city council as well. The two sides collectively spent more than $230,000 on the campaign by late May.
National activist Karen England, whose organization pushes to remove “pornographic books” from schools, has been speaking at city council meetings and church services in recent weeks to help raise awareness for the ‘no’ campaign. She said this is the first ballot measure that she is aware of challenging a book removal policy at a public library and she worries that, if successful, it could become a model for librarians across the country to cut parents out of deciding what their children read.
“That’s what I’m fighting against. They don’t know best,” she said. “I do feel like this is ground zero.”
The campaign has gotten extremely heated, with each side accusing the other of using emotion and misinformation to whip residents into a confused frenzy about what they’re actually voting on. Proponents of the ballot measures mock the conservative city council for injecting more government into peoples’ lives. Opponents complain that they are hamstrung in making their case to voters, because the offending library material is so obscene that they cannot even show it on social media or the news.
But the tension reached a zenith with the “protect our kids from porn” signs, which furious library supporters say unfairly portrayed it as a place run by groomers and pedophiles.
“If they feel like there is porn in the library, they should come and arrest me. Because I personally handed ‘It’s Perfectly Normal’ to patrons,” the former librarian Spivey said, referring to one of the books that Huntington Beach has moved out of the children’s section. “I wish they would, because it would show the community that what they’re doing is a lie.”
Van Der Mark, the architect of the library book review committee, said critics are simply trying to distract from the pornographic nature of the challenged books.
“You’re offended by the word (porn) but not the actual material,” she said.
Supporters of Measures A and B protest in Lake Park.
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Mette Lampcov
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CalMatters
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Signs that state support and opposition for ballot initiatives related to library book restrictions in Huntington Beach on May 31, 2025.
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Mette Lampcov
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CalMatters
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Yet despite the heightened significance that both sides place on the special election, neither seems ready to stand down if they lose. The ACLU lawsuit is still in court, and many Huntington Beach conservatives say they could never accept the challenged books being available in the children’s section of the library.
Casey McKeon, another city councilmember heavily involved in the library debate, said he is frustrated by how vehemently some people have pushed back against the book review board, even though the council “did this the right way” — through its policymaking process, because local parents were upset about the material.
“So we’re not supposed to fix an issue if it’s quote-unquote social or cultural?” he said.
The conservative city council members are leading Huntington Beach exactly the way that voters elected them to, McKeon said, and while the pace of the changes may upset some people, the council cannot wait to fix what it sees is wrong with the city.
“You only get four years,” he said. “You don’t know if you’re going to get re-elected. You don’t have forever.”
The start of the school year at LAUSD brings a ban on screen time for younger students and significant limits for older students. The new rules are a departure for LAUSD, which only a few years ago was a national leader in bringing technology into the classroom.
Phased roll out: Starting this week, 1st grade and under will have no screen time at all, in November, the rest of elementary school classes will have limits, with middle and high school students following later in the year.
Tracking screen time: Students will have software on their personal tablets or computers that will keep track of the amount of screen time used per week. The software will not shut the device off once the limit is reached, instead it collects data for the district to comb through at the end of the year. The hope is that the data gathered will help the district make tweaks to the rule and better understand what worked this year and what didn't.
This year brings a new challenge for Armaghan Khan and many other teachers in the nation's second-largest school district: Ban screen time for younger students, and significantly limit it for older kids.
"This is going to be a big impact for me," says Khan, who's spent his career in the Los Angeles Unified School District. "I would say about 75% of our work was on some kind of screen-based activity."
As a science teacher Khan, has embraced technology. Not only because his students at Johnnie L. Cochran Middle School can perform large-scale experiments on their laptops — like a car crash simulator to understand things like Newtonian forces — but also because it's his best option.
"My hands are kind of tied in terms of just what I can offer," he says. "We have a lab space, but we do not have a lab budget."
What to know about LAUSD's new screen time policy
The Los Angeles Unified School board adopted the new screen time policy in June after staff conducted research and outreach to parents, educators and community members. Here's what parents need to know about the phased roll out:
Implementation: Screen time limits for the district's youngest students, 1st grade and younger, begin in August 2026. Limits for students in the 2nd through 5th grades will begin in November 2026. Students in the 6th through 12th grade will have limited screen time beginning in January 2027.
Exceptions to the policy: There are several exceptions, including usage during district- and state-mandated assessments, students enrolled in the LAUSD Virtual Academy program, and to help students with disabilities learn, as mandated by their Individualized Education Program (IEP) or 504 Plan.
You can read more about the LAUSD screen time policy here.
Many districts and a growing number of states have passed similar limits this year, but the rapid roll out in Los Angeles for teachers and the district's more than 400,000 students is unique. The school board passed the resolution this spring: Starting this week, 1st grade and under will have no screen time at all, in November, the rest of elementary school classes will have limits, with middle and high school students following later in the year.
The new rules are a departure for LAUSD, which only a few years ago was a national leader in bringing technology into the classroom. Khan said he was surprised by the new policy and subsequent lack of guidance: "I don't feel like I'm being set up for success."
A rapid rollout
Pia Sadaqatmal, the district's new chief academic officer who is overseeing the new screen time rules, says she knows it's not flawless.
"There is no perfect solution on how to roll out to a school district the size of ours."
She encourages teachers to see this year as a transition year and not expect overnight improvements.
"We have one of the first school districts in the nation to adopt a policy at this scale," she says. "We know that we are going to be learning along the way at each phase."
Students will have software on their personal tablets or computers that will keep track of the amount of screen time used per week. The software will not shut the device off once the limit is reached, instead it collects data for the district to comb through at the end of the year.
The hope is that the data gathered will help the district make tweaks to the rule and better understand what worked this year and what didn't.
Certain things are exempt, like virtual textbooks, but teachers are still trying to figure out where everything else fits.
Filling the gaps
"I have more questions than I do sort of immediate … concerns around it," says Kirti Baranwal, a teacher librarian at William Jefferson Clinton Middle School. This is her 28th year with the school district.
"I think generally screen time limits are good," she says.
Last year the district banned cell phones, a growing standard for many states around the country. So Baranwal did a lesson on screen addiction, and asked her students to report their own screen time. Many came back with 8 or 10 hours a day – even with the ban in place.
"And I was like, when are you sleeping?"
Research shows that for kids who don't have the resources to play on sports teams or attend arts programs, their time outside of school is occupied, often, by their phone. Baranwal, like Khan in his science classroom, thinks just unplugging or turning screens off ends up leaving holes.
We know that we don't want students on phones, Baranwal says. But then, "what is it that we want kids doing?"
With the school year just beginning, the Los Angeles school district is trying to figure that out.
Dwight Yoakam will take his Bakersfield sound to Pacific Amphitheatre.
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Matt Winkelmeyer
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Getty Images for the Recording Academy
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In this edition:
Sign up for a Graffiti Towers walking tour, eat out with Dine LA Restaurant Week deals and check out some Route 66-themed films at the Norton Simon.
Highlights:
When graffiti artists took over the abandoned luxury building project Oceanwide Plaza in 2024, the subversive move became an instant skyline icon for anyone driving east on the 10. The group Rent Brigade has started offering tours of the site, looking at the design of nearby L.A. Live, and the “history of speculation, displacement, and resistance in DTLA.” A debrief over drinks follows. This week is sold out, but check back as they are adding more dates.
Dine LA Restaurant Week is here again, so make your reservations now, because hot tables go fast. Ranging from $35 to $65, deals include tasting menus and specials at some of the most popular new spots and old favorites.
The Norton Simon is celebrating historic Route 66 with a themed film series. Saturday’s pick: The 1940 classic The Grapes of Wrath. Based on the John Steinbeck novel, the Oscar-winning John Ford film stars Henry Fonda as Tom Joad, who heads west from the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression.
I have family in town this week, and since they’ve been to L.A. many times over the years, I was trying to think of some new places for us to check out this trip.
Our first stop was sister dreamer, Lauren Halsey’s “architectural ode to tha surge n splurge of south central los angeles” — and I can’t recommend it enough. The perfect detour on your way to or from picking up or dropping off someone at LAX (truly SoCal’s highest form of saying you love someone), the installation creates an oasis in the heart of South Central. Halsey’s portrait of the neighborhood is a feat of carving work that is part Getty, part street mural and part ancient Egypt, honoring both her neighborhood and artistic ancestors. Head to the corner of Western Avenue and 76th Street to check it out; the site is hosting regular events like jazz jams, yoga sessions and more. Plus, Halsey will join Erykah Badu at the Bowl for a show this September.
Sunday, Aug, 16, 5 p.m. 1101 Flower St., Downtown L.A. COST: SOLD OUT BUT MORE DATES TBD; MORE INFO
The so-called Graffiti Towers in 2024.
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Mario Tama
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Getty Images
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When graffiti artists took over the abandoned luxury building project Oceanwide Plaza in 2024, the subversive move became an instant skyline icon for anyone driving east on the 10. The group Rent Brigade has started offering tours of the site, looking at the design of nearby L.A. Live, and the “history of speculation, displacement, and resistance in DTLA.” A debrief over drinks follows. This week is sold out, but check back as they are adding more dates.
CHIMAC-FEST 2026
Friday, Aug. 14 through Sunday, Aug. 16 Great Park Live 8000 Great Park Blvd., Irvine COST: FROM $17; MORE INFO
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Courtesy Great Park Live
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You had me at fried chicken and beer. CHIMAC-FEST takes the popular Korean pairing and raises it to the next level, while showcasing a wide range of Korean food, culture, live entertainment and more at Great Park Live in Irvine.
SkyFest Big Bear
Friday, August 14 through Sunday, Aug. 16, 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. Various locations in Big Bear COST: FROM $15; MORE INFO
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Courtesy Big Bear
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Allow me a little leeway to share something beyond our usual L.A. and Orange County limits this week and encourage you to take a ride to Big Bear. The mountain town hosts SkyFest, a three-day celebration of science and discovery, featuring NASA and Caltech astrophysicists and DarkSky experts. You’ll learn about black holes, NASA’s next space telescope and the search for life in the universe. The festival features shows at the immersive AstroDome, rides to stargaze from the mountain summit, guided night hikes, a mountaintop forest sound bath and special events for kids.
Dine LA Restaurant Week
Friday, Aug. 14 through Friday, Aug. 28 COST: VARIES; MORE INFO
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Courtesy Redbird
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Dine LA Restaurant Week is here again, so make your reservations now, because hot tables go fast. Ranging from $35 to $65, deals include tasting menus and specials at some of the most popular new spots and old favorites. A few that caught food editor Gab Chabrán’s eye:
Saturday, Aug. 15, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Last Bookstore 453 S. Spring St., Ground Floor, Downtown L.A. COST: $5; MORE INFO
The Last Bookstore in DTLA is just one of the many places to purchase and get lost a book that can be found throughout the city.
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Jonathan Hoffman
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LAist
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There’s never a bad time to make a pilgrimage to The Last Bookstore, but this weekend you can see much more than books as the whole Spring Arts Tower is getting in on the action. There will be a pop-up market featuring hundreds of vendors across all 12 floors of the historic downtown building.
Route 66 Film Series: The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Saturday, August 15, 4:30 p.m. Norton Simon Museum 411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena COST: FREE WITH MUSEUM ADMISSION; MORE INFO
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Courtesy 20th Century Fox
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The Norton Simon is celebrating historic Route 66 with a themed film series. Saturday’s pick: The 1940 classic The Grapes of Wrath. Based on the John Steinbeck novel, the Oscar-winning John Ford film stars Henry Fonda as Tom Joad, who heads west from the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression.
Fool in the Pool
Monday, Aug 17, 8 p.m. El Cóndor 3701 Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake COST: GA $25, VIP $40; MORE INFO
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Kay DeMuco
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Eventbrite
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Fool in the Pool is an immersive karaoke play at El Cóndor. There's a live band, the audience sings as part of the narrative, and VIP ticket-holders perform on stage with the band. The story follows a washed-up child star turned karaoke host across one unraveling night — it opens as comedy and turns darker. No two performances are the same, and the night ends with open karaoke for everyone.
Soul Jazz Sessions
Thursdays, 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. State Social House 8782 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood COST: FREE; MORE INFO
Soul Jazz Sessions is a new weekly live-music event on Thursdays. While the Sunset Strip may be better known for loud rock acts, check out this new — and decidedly more chill — jazz jam session at State Social House on Sunset Boulevard. There’s no cover (rare for a jazz set in this town!).
Netflix's BEEF wellness-themed giveaways
Through Friday, Aug. 14 Various locations COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy Netflix
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We’re deep into FYC season, and that means only one thing for us normies: free stuff. Netflix’s series BEEF is taking the show’s calm-down lesson to the masses by offering free wellness treats and experiences. From a limited-edition “Yogi” smoothie at SunLife Organics to a sound bath in partnership with the Den at the London in West Hollywood, get in line early for your free dose of chill.
Elizabeth Mitchell performances
Garden Concerts for Kids: Elizabeth Mitchell Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 15 and 16, 4 p.m. The Getty Center 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood COST: FREE with reservation; MORE INFO
Ida at Lodge Room Monday, August 17, 8 p.m. Lodge Room 104 N. Ave. 56, 2nd floor, Highland Park COST: $32.50; MORE INFO
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Courtesy Lodge Room
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This week brings three opportunities to catch Elizabeth Mitchell’s varied talent. Bring the kids to the Getty this Saturday and Sunday afternoon for family concerts celebrating the 20th anniversary of her Smithsonian Folkways children’s music album, You Are My Little Bird. Joined by her husband Daniel Littleton and daughter Storey, Mitchell will put on performances that are true family gatherings, covering traditional songs and favorites ranging from Woody Guthrie to Bob Marley.
On Monday, you can see Elizabeth and Daniel perform at the Lodge Room with Ida, the thoughtful and spare indie group they formed in 1991. Fun fact: While at Brown University, Elizabeth Mitchell played in a duo with Lisa Loeb, and she and Daniel later sang backup vocals on her hit “Stay (I Missed You).” — Roy Lenn
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LAPD officer makes secret recordings of colleagues
Frank Stoltze
is a veteran reporter who covers local politics and examines how democracy is and, at times, is not working.
Published August 12, 2026 5:00 AM
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman faces criticism for prosecuting a police officer who secretly recorded colleagues making what the officer describes as racist, sexist and homophobic remarks.
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Robert Gauthier
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline
The L.A. County district attorney’s decision to file criminal charges against an LAPD officer who recorded colleagues has sparked controversy, with critics saying the charges will create a chilling effect on people who want to report misconduct at the department. The officer says the recordings capture colleagues making racist, sexist and homophobic remarks.
The backstory: Officer Daniel Flores made 122 recordings of colleagues in the department's Recruitment and Employment Division.
The details: District Attorney Nathan Hochman alleges Flores violated California privacy laws and that he should be prosecuted regardless of his motives to root out bigotry.
Backlash: L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and others have denounced the prosecution, saying it could "send the wrong message that calling out egregious behavior could land you in prison."
Read on ... for details about the case.
Los Angeles Police Officer Daniel Flores thought he was doing the right thing.
Colleagues in the department’s Recruitment and Employment Division were making what he said were racist, sexist and homophobic remarks in the office, and he wanted to report them to superiors.
So he started secretly recording them.
In June, Flores, 43, sued the department, claiming the LAPD had created a hostile workplace. In his lawsuit, he said he made the recordings in what he believed was part of a “lawful investigation as a police officer.''
Now, the tables have turned. It's Flores who is the target.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has filed 16 felony counts of eavesdropping or recording confidential communications against Flores.
“We are going to enforce the laws to prevent police officers from using illegal means to achieve their goals, even if that goal in that individual’s mind is to root out bigotry,” Hochman said during a news conference last week.
Flores could face up to 13 years in state prison if convicted. On Monday, he pleaded not guilty in Superior Court.
Reaction to the charges
The district attorney’s decision to file criminal charges against Flores has sparked a firestorm of controversy, with some saying the charges will create a chilling effect on people who want to report misconduct at the Police Department.
“While I understand that it is inappropriate and a crime to record colleagues without their consent, these charges certainly send the wrong message that calling out egregious behavior could land you in prison,” Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. “I am worried that this will deter whistleblowers and discourage officers from using the appropriate reporting channels in the future."
Los Angeles City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez introduced a resolution Tuesday condemning Hochman for his decision to charge Flores.
Police abuse activists also weighed in.
“I think that’s Nathan Hochman’s intention — is to make sure he maintains that blue wall of silence,” said Melina Abdullah of Black Lives Matter L.A. “DA Hochman is continuing to show whose side he’s on — that he’s not on the people’s side.”
Hochman has said his decision to file the criminal case is appropriate, and that Flores had other legal ways to report alleged misconduct by fellow officers.
“He had a number of legitimate avenues to go through,” Hochman said.
Police Chief Jim McDonnell said Friday that Flores’ complaint triggered an internal investigation into 18 other officers. Seventeen faced disciplinary complaints, he said.
The chief declined to say what discipline, if any, the officers received.
About the 122 recordings
California has one of the most restrictive recording laws in the nation, prohibiting someone from recording anyone without their consent. The law requires all parties to a conversation to agree to be recorded before a recording can begin, unless somebody has a court order allowing them to record.
“These laws do, I think, interfere with people's ability to gather information, including information that might be seen as misconduct by the people that they are recording,” said UCLA Law School Professor Eugene Volokh. “This is what I sometimes call the dark side of privacy."
But there are exceptions for police officers who are engaging in official investigations.
In his lawsuit, Flores claims co-workers made various racist, dehumanizing, misogynistic and homophobic comments.
He said it all started when a new supervisor took over the Police Department’s recruitment division and “repeatedly made derogatory statements and fostered an environment in which other employees were encouraged to do the same.''
The lawsuit said Flores submitted his complaints about his co-workers to LAPD Internal Affairs and the Los Angeles Police Commission in January 2025. That’s what triggered the internal investigation.
Flores turned over 122 recordings in all.
The District Attorney’s Office charged Flores on July 31.
In a 27-page brief filed Monday, prosecutors suggested Flores’ motives were not altruistic. The filing alleges Flores “manipulated conversations by initiating or participating in discussions about a particular topic before activating the recording device, then ceasing his own participation.”
Hochman’s brief referred to some of the officers’ comments as “locker room talk.” Prosecutors also accuse Flores of editing the recordings to hide his own racist, sexist and homophobic remarks.
The district attorney based that claim largely on what the officers — the alleged victims in the criminal case — told detectives. According to prosecutors, the officers said Flores often talked about wanting to win the “LAPD lottery,” meaning he wanted a big payout from his civil lawsuit.
LAist reached out to Flores’ attorney, but did not receive a response. However, the defense has argued Flores is protected by the California Invasion of Privacy Act, which allows secret recordings by police officers.
Volokh, from UCLA, said the law allows police officers to make some kinds of recordings in secret.
“Obviously, we know that there are recordings done by police officers in various kinds of investigations,” Volokh said. “But it's not unlimited latitude. It’s not enough that the police officer be well motivated. He has to be acting within his scope of his authority as a police officer.”
For that reason, Hochman said, Flores stepped over the line.
“In our all-party consent state, where California has been one of the nation's leaders in protecting privacy and deterring illegal eavesdropping for over a half a century, one cannot simply choose to break the law because one wants to pursue a personal agenda,” Hochman said Friday.
Holding the line
Soto-Martínez said Tuesday that Hochman should drop the charges immediately.
“The District Attorney is sending a chilling message: If you report misconduct through the appropriate channels, you could be prosecuted,” said Soto-Martínez. “Beyond that, dismissing racist, misogynistic and homophobic behavior as ‘locker room talk’ is unacceptable.”
But Hochman said at the Friday news conference that he believes allowing a police officer to secretly record colleagues would signal to fellow officers that other misconduct would be acceptable, too.
“If we don’t hold the line there, where does it next take us?” he said.
Hochman used the example of an officer using illegal means to arrest a drug dealer by planting evidence. He said that there are implications for non-police officers as well.
“We want to make sure nobody cuts corners and decides they want to go ahead and record a conversation when they come over to your home, when they come over to your workplace, when they come over to a social setting.”
Flores remains free on his own recognizance while the case is pending.
Mariana Dale
explores and explains the forces that shape how and what kids learn from kindergarten to high school.
Published August 11, 2026 4:44 PM
An aerial view of the clean-up process at the Lineage warehouse on Friday, July 31, 2026. LAUSD reports there are dozens of schools within a three-mile radius of the fire.
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Allen J. Schaben
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
Los Angeles Unified School District officials said environmental tests have concluded the Boyle Heights warehouse fire did not result in widespread contamination at nearby schools. However, on Tuesday they reported lead levels in the soil at two elementary school campuses that exceeded California’s acceptable threshold.
Why it matters: Officials announced the results one day before classes resume at dozens of schools within a three-mile radius of the Lineage warehouse. The school district promised to give families advance notice of testing results ahead of the start of school on Wednesday. Those results were posted in a 561-page document uploaded to a district website Tuesday morning.
The district’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety concluded that schools near the disaster “remain safe for occupancy and that the Lineage fire did not result in widespread residual contamination or conditions at LAUSD campuses posing a health hazard to students or staff.”
The two campuses with high levels of lead: Officialssaid they found elevated levels of lead in soil samples from two schools. City Terrace Elementary School had 170 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil, while Christopher Dena Elementary School had 120 milligrams. Both exceeded the 80 milligram threshold considered “acceptable” by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.
What district officials are saying: Carlos Torres, director of LAUSD’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety, told LAist the district doesn’t believe the lead is tied to the warehouse fire. “Most likely this could be from things like lead-based paints from use in the past. It could be from agricultural use,” Torres said. “There isn't such a thing as clean soil anywhere.”
What's next: Torres said the front lawn at City Terrace and the tree wells at Dena, where elevated levels of lead were detected, have been fenced off. He said district staff are reviewing the lab results and could decide to conduct more testing, remove or otherwise remediate the soil, for example, by laying down mulch.
How families can learn more: The district plans to hold another virtual meeting for East L.A. parents on Monday, August 17 at 6 p.m.
This is a developing story. LAist will update this post as more information is available.
Los Angeles Unified School District officials said environmental tests have concluded the Boyle Heights warehouse fire did not result in widespread contamination at nearby schools.
However, on Tuesday they reported lead levels in the soil at two elementary school campuses that exceeded California’s acceptable threshold. Officials announced the results one day before classes resume at dozens of schools within a three-mile radius of the Lineage warehouse.
The district promised to give families advance notice of testing results ahead of the start of school on Wednesday. Those results were posted in a 561-page document uploaded to a district website Tuesday morning.
The district’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety concluded that schools near the disaster “remain safe for occupancy and that the Lineage fire did not result in widespread residual contamination or conditions at LAUSD campuses posing a health hazard to students or staff.”
District officials said indoor and outdoor testing found the presence of ammonia, formaldehyde and manganese, but at low levels that did not raise concern about fire-related contamination that could harm the health of students or school staff.
While some parents have told LAist they feel safe sending their children to schools in the area, others have said they’re worried about potential health impacts from the fire, which covered the neighborhood in smoke for more than a week and left tons of food to rot in the sun.
Two campuses with elevated lead levels
Officialssaid they found elevated levels of lead in soil samples from two elementary schools. City Terrace Elementary School had 170 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil, while Christopher Dena Elementary School had 120 milligrams. Both exceeded the 80 milligram threshold considered “acceptable” by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.
Carlos Torres, director of LAUSD’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety, told LAist the district doesn’t believe the lead is tied to the warehouse fire.
“Most likely this could be from things like lead-based paints from use in the past. It could be from agricultural use,” Torres said. “There isn't such a thing as clean soil anywhere.”
How the testing works
LAUSD tested 10 schools out of the more than 50 campuses located within a three-mile radius of the Lineage warehouse.
The report said the schools were selected based on their proximity to the warehouse and in relation to wind patterns that may have influenced where the fire smoke deposited contaminants. The district also tested one school farther from the fire, but similar to those near the warehouse because of its proximity to other industrial sites and a freeway.
The tests were conducted from July 28 to August 7.
The district collected:
Dust wipe samples from indoor and outdoor spaces including desks, drinking fountains, tables, and playgrounds
Soil samples from unpaved areas and gardens
Air samples from indoor and outdoor areas including athletic fields, classrooms and gyms
The district tested for substances that included metals identified as potential contaminants from the fire, including arsenic, lead, lithium and manganese, as well as ammonia, formaldehyde and hydrogen fluoride in the air.
The report said the district consulted with an industrial hygienist, a UCLA researcher, a geologist and a third-party environmental consulting firm to create the testing plan.
District officials have described their response to the warehouse fire in several virtual meetings, including:
Inspecting and twice replacing air-conditioning filters with those rated MERV-13, an indicator of the filter’s ability to trap small particles
Deep cleaning, including by washing walls and furniture, waxing floors and pressure-washing outdoor areas and playground equipment
Placing air purifiers with carbon charcoal filters in all classrooms
What's next
Torres said the front lawn at City Terrace and the tree wells at Dena, where elevated levels of lead were detected, have been fenced off. He said district staff are reviewing the lab results and could decide to conduct more testing that could lead to the removal or remediation of the soil, for example, by laying down mulch.
