Santa Ana police have been accused by a local city councilmember of trying to sabotage any efforts of bystanders to post videos to social media of their actions while on-duty – by playing loud music during dealings with the public that would be subject to copyright laws if posted.
Speaking at a city council meeting, California lawmaker Johnathan Ryan Hernandez spoke about an interaction he had personally with an officer in his neighborhood, an incident that was recorded and posted to YouTube.
During the course of investigating a report of a stolen vehicle, officers were blasting Disney songs like “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Encanto and “You Have A Friend In Me” from Toy Story, even as neighborhood residents asked them to turn the music down.
“It's quite clear that this is a practice we can't condone, it is an unethical practice, and as members of the community, especially public servants, it's not something we can support as a city,” Hernandez said at the meeting. “There is no reasoning to ever behave this way with members of the public, especially if you are an officer with a badge and a gun.”
The 13-minute video in question, posted to a watchdog account called Santa Ana Audits, has gone viral and has not been taken down as of yet. Hernandez makes his first appearance in the video about halfway through, asking if something is wrong.
Some of the conversation between Hernandez and the officer is obscured by the loud music, but he told CNN that the officer admitted to him that the music’s purpose was to force a takedown notice for copyright infringement if any video was posted on the internet.
“My people live here, brother. Please treat them with respect,” Hernandez responds in the video. “There's kids that need to go to school, there's people that are working, and you chose to use our taxpayer dollars to disrespect the man with your music. That's childish.”
“This is my district. You're not going to conduct yourselves like that in front of my neighbors,” Hernandez continues amid multiple apologies from the officer to both Hernandez and the person recording the video.
Santa Ana Police released a statement on Instagram to say they are “aware of a video that has surfaced involving one of our officers.”
“We are committed to serving our community and we understand the concerns as it relates to the video,” the statement continues. “The Santa Ana Police Department takes seriously all complaints regarding the service provided by the Department and the conduct of its employees. Our department is committed to conducting complete, thorough, and objective investigations.”
“There are two public officials in that video, and I have no complaints on him filming me,” Hernandez told CNN. “If you are doing good and serving the people, there shouldn’t be any concerns of what is being filmed.”
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