The union representing rank-and-file Los Angeles Police Department officers rescinded its endorsement of City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto in her bid for reelection Friday, a decision that came two days after her office disclosed a major data breach involving law enforcement records.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League Board of Directors issued a letter to Feldstein Soto, informing the city attorney that they voted unanimously not to support her reelection.
The board demanded that Feldstein Soto remove their logo from her campaign website, as well as not to reference the organization in any voter communication or campaign platform.
“We believe that you were repeatedly not forthcoming with us about the devastating data breach of sensitive LAPD files containing information about officers that you have known about since at least March 20, 2026. You
never informed us of this breach, we learned about it by reading the newspaper and that is not how our union and our members will be treated,” the LAPPL Board of Directors said in its letter.
“Furthermore, on March 25, 2026, you interviewed with our Political Action Committee seeking our formal endorsement for your re-election and willfully failed to disclose this breach, that, quite frankly, is
unforgiveable,” the letter continued.
A spokesman for the LAPPL said the union will begin the process once again to decide whether to endorse a new candidate.
A representative for Feldstein Soto’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
LAPPL’s decision to rescind the support for Feldstein Soto came two days after her office confirmed there was an unauthorized breach to the office’s third-party system on March 20. The digital program is used by city
attorneys to transfer discovery to opposing counsel and litigants.
“After learning of the incident, our office took immediate steps to secure the tool and investigate what information was accessed. We reported the incident to law enforcement and engaged external support, including outside counsel and external forensic support. Our office has been working with city
departments, including the City’s Information Technology Agency (ITA), to review the data involved in the incident,” Pine said in a statement.
The City Attorney’s Office said no other city applications or systems were impacted by the breach.
“The information was self-contained in this application without any links or access to any department records or systems. Our investigation is continuing to determine what information was present in the tool and we will take appropriate action to notify any affected parties based on the results of this review,” Pine said in his statement.
Feldstein Soto is seeking a second term as Los Angeles City Attorney. Voters elected her in 2022, making her the city’s first female city attorney.
Aida Ashouri, a human rights attorney, John McKinney, a deputy district attorney, and Marissa Roy, a deputy attorney general, are challenging Feldstein Soto to be the city’s top prosecutor and legal advisor.
In response to the data breach, McKinney issued a statement online, calling for immediate answers.
“The lack of transparency isn’t just concerning, it’s unacceptable. By keeping the public in the dark, witnesses and Los Angeles Police Department families may have been put at risk.”
Roy also called for transparency and accountability.
“Protecting privileged and confidential data is a foundational job requirement of the City Attorney. This City Attorney has repeatedly disregarded concerns about data privacy in the Office, retaliating against whistleblowers seeking more stringent protocols,” Roy said.
On Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Police Department said officials were made aware of the breach, in which unauthorized individuals gained access to a digital storage system that contained discovery documents from previously adjudicated or settled LAPD civil litigation cases, as well as personnel files and documents from Internal Affairs investigations.
The breach did not involve any LAPD systems or networks, police added.
“We take this incident very seriously and are working with the LA City Attorney’s Office to gain access to this impacted file to understand the full scope of the data breach,” the LAPD said.
Mayor Karen Bass has been briefed on the data breach, according to city officials.
The Los Angeles Times reported Friday — citing two sources familiar with the investigation — that the third-party system was not password-protected.
Earlier this week, some of the records started showing up online.
One of the first accounts to post a file from the hack was @WhosThatCop.
The account posts about police accountability. The account’s administrator said a security researcher first disclosed the breach.
The files were taken down Tuesday afternoon, but some of the data has been downloaded, according to
the Times.
Most police records are private under state law, and when they are used in legal cases, the files tend to be significantly redacted.
The Times reported there were 7.7 terabytes of information available for download and more than 337,000 files.
The breach further included witness names, health information and unredacted criminal complaints and investigative files, the report said.
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