See strongloop/loopback#1650 (comment)
// a custom JSON serializer function for producing JSON response bodies
// @param sanitizedData: response data containing only safe properties
// @param originalError: the original Error object
jsonSerializer: function(sanitizedData, originalError) {
if (originalError.name === 'ValidationError') {
var details = sanitizedData.details || {};
sanitizedData.issueCount = details.codes && Object.keys(details.codes).length;
}
return sanitizedData;
}