An officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, charged with illegally recording his colleagues, is expected back in court on Thursday. 

Daniel Flores was charged with 16 felony counts for taping other officers allegedly making racist and homophobic comments. 

The LA County District Attorney says his office will now lower those felony charges after reaction from the community. 

The latest turn in this case is DA Nathan Hochman saying he understands the concerns some people had about his office targeting a whistleblower in the LAPD.

Daniel Flores worked in a recruiting and employment office for the LAPD.

According to a lawsuit, Flores filed against the city in June — his supervisor and colleagues there were allegedly making racist, homophobic, and sexist remarks while at work.

Prosecutors say Flores secretly made more than a hundred recordings of conversations with other LAPD personnel, and this month Flores was charged with 16 counts of felony recording confidential communications.

At first, the LA DA’s office said this case was about accountability for an officer who behaved illegally instead of going through the proper channels to address the other officers’ behavior.

If convicted, he could have spent more than a decade in prison.

But the case caused strong reaction both among community advocates and elected officials like mayor Karen Bass, who said sending Flores to prison could discourage future whistleblowers from coming forward.

This week the DA announced he was lessening the charges to misdemeanors, and Flores could avoid prison time altogether.

“We’re not going to dismiss the case, because this individual, daniel flores, committed the wrongful conduct, but a more reduced charge, which is a misdemeanor charge, and 16 of them, we thought conveyed the appropriate, balanced message that we are both going to hold people accountable, but do it in a fair way,” Hochman said. 

Flores is expected to go through a court diversion program, which means that if he doesn’t break the law again, the entire criminal matter would be dismissed next year, and ho would have no record of a conviction.