In early June 2025, social media users spread a rumor that the Los Angeles Police Department issued an emergency alert to people's phones declaring protests against immigration raids in downtown Los Angeles an "unlawful assembly."
Screenshots of the purported alert spread on X, Threads and Facebook.
It's true that the LAPD declared protests happening in downtown Los Angeles against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids an "unlawful assembly" on June 8, 2025, per X posts from an official Los Angeles Police Department account and a phone call to the police department's media office.
Furthermore, at least two alerts were sent to phones, which Snopes confirmed via an email from journalist Alicia Ramirez, founder and publisher of nonprofit newsroom The Riverside Record; Ramirez provided screenshots and metadata for verification.
Screenshots and metadata indicating the authenticity of the alerts from LAPD. (Alicia Ramirez)
Multiple social media users posted screenshots of the messages, further indicating the authenticity of the alerts. An LAPD spokesperson appeared unaware of the notifications and pointed Snopes to LAPD's X page, which did not have these specific phone notifications on them. However, on June 11, a spokesperson from the Los Angeles Emergency Management Department confirmed to Snopes via email that these screenshots showed legitimate communications from the city, authorized by LAPD's incident commander. The Emergency Management Department issued the alerts on LAPD's behalf, spokesperson Joseph Riser said.
Thus, we rate this claim true.
Timeline of alerts
At 2:30 p.m. on June 8, 2025, X user @LAPDCentral posted (archived): "The City of Los Angeles is on Tactical Alert." (That X account represents LAPD's downtown Los Angeles division.)
For law enforcement, a tactical alert essentially means "all-hands have to be on-deck — nobody's going home early — because something serious is going down," according to the Los Angeles Police Protective League, a labor union representing LAPD officers. It is unclear whether there is an official difference between an "emergency alert" and a "tactical alert."
While @LAPDCentral has a blue verification badge, which does not necessarily indicate the authenticity of a government account, @LAPDHQ frequently reposts @LAPDCentral — and @LAPDHQ has a gray verification badge that demonstrates X verified it as a "government or multilateral organization account." @LAPDHQ also recommended in a June 6 X post to check @LAPDCentral for updates. Furthermore, a spokesperson in LAPD's media relations office confirmed via a phone call that the @LAPDCentral account belongs to the LAPD. Thus, posts coming from @LAPDCentral represent legitimate communications from LAPD.
Minutes after @LAPDCentral posted about the tactical alert, the account began publishing "unlawful assembly" declarations pursuant to various specific locations in Los Angeles. According to the metadata from Ramirez's screenshots, the first alert, for protest activity in the U.S. Highway 101/Alameda Street area declared as an "unlawful assembly," was sent out at 6:11 p.m. It is unclear how many people received the alert, but Ramirez said she was about a block away from the area and noted that her immediate surroundings were devoid of any protesters.
LAPD later declared the entirety of downtown Los Angeles as an "unlawful assembly" on June 8; the department announced the decision in an X post at 9:11 p.m.
The X post from @LAPDCentral about sending out an alert regarding the "unlawful assembly" published at 11:15 p.m. on June 8. Ramirez's screenshots and metadata show another alert for the "LA Civic Center Area," which Ramirez said she was about 2.5 miles away from, was sent out at 11:12 p.m.
Ramirez also noted that she received these notifications on an iPhone — and her boyfriend, who was in the same building as her, did not receive the same alerts on his Android phone. It is unclear whether this was due to notification settings or other reasons. Riser, the Emergency Management Department spokesperson, said the alerts sent were coded as "public safety messages" and people can choose to opt-out of those specific alerts if they wish. "Most likely the alert settings on their phones have been set differently," Riser said.