LAPD serves search warrants in investigation of who recorded racist City Hall leak
The Los Angeles Police Department served search warrants on Wednesday in an investigation of who leaked secret recordings of city council meetings of some of the most powerful lawmakers in the city and who are suspected of being the source.
The warrants were served on three people in relation to a June 26 incident at City Hall, which has become a cause celebre among the city’s black communities.
The warrant for recording equipment came from a California law enforcement agency, according to the LAPD’s statement.
The warrants are to search for any audio recording device or any other evidence related to a crime.
A spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said the warrants were served at the Westlake Village apartment of James E. Day, 50, of Glendale, the Los Angeles Times reported.
A spokesman for the LAPD, Sgt. Christopher Ovecka, said officials made the decision to serve the warrants as a way of collecting evidence on a possible crime.
“We are treating this as an investigative warrant and a criminal investigation,” Ovecka said.
The LAPD said it was unsure if the records of the recording were related to the incident at City Hall.
“As a matter of routine, we routinely serve search warrants, regardless of the nature of the investigation,” Ovecka said. “These warrants related to an incident that involved a city council meeting and may involve any city council meeting recording in the future.”
The warrant was served in Los Angeles on Wednesday, after the LAPD received a complaint about the recording devices at City Hall in June and asked District Attorney Tony Rackauckas to investigate.
The recording that played at the June 26 meeting was of a council meeting that took place in January and was held before the July 28 hearing and the recordings were made with a permission of the city clerk.
The recordings include conversations between a councilman and a city worker and at least one conversation
