“Embarrassing.” “Chilling.” “An infringement on First Amendment rights.”
Those are some of the words Santa Ana City Council members used early Wednesday morning to describe the actions of a local police officer who blared copyright-protected music from his squad car as a way to prevent video of his on-the-job actions from being spread over social media.
The April 4 incident, which took place late at night in a previously quiet neighborhood, has gained national attention as a possibly widespread police tactic.
As the April 19 council meeting extended beyond midnight, council members condemned the officer’s behavior. They also told the city manager to come back with an official policy that addresses the right of the public to film the police.
“This is a practice that no officer should engage in. There’s no reason to ever behave this way with members of the public, especially if you’re an officer with a badge and a gun,” said Councilman Johnathan Ryan Hernandez, who brought up the matter before his colleagues.
“The practice of utilizing music to deter members of the public from recording (police) isn’t something we’re going to allow to continue,” he added.
Hernandez had a first-hand view of the incident. He was in his home in the Artesia Pilar neighborhood around 11 p.m. on Monday, April 4, when he said he heard loud Disney songs playing over a P.A. system. He said he put up with it for about half an hour, then went outside to find out about the source of the music. As he did that he saw older residents and kids in their pajamas doing the same.
What happened next was caught on a video — which, despite the music, has gone viral — made by a member of the public.
“Guys, what’s going on with the music?” Hernandez asked the officers blasting the music. “Why are you playing Disney music?”
One officer told Hernandez that social media platforms take down video that includes copyright-protected music, and that playing such music loudly would prevent any video of his work from being shared online.
After Hernandez established that he was a member of the city council, the officer apologized repeatedly.
Hernandez noted that the music, played on a school night, was keeping children and others awake.
“Have some respect for my community,” Hernandez told him.
The videographer is a local resident who films police for his YouTube channel, Santa Ana Audits. He’s part of a growing movement of “auditors” who want to see more transparency and accountability from police.
But the playing of copyrighted music could prevent the blogger, or others, from posting the video online. Last year, law enforcement officers from Alameda County Sheriff’s and Beverly Hills Police also were seen on video playing copyrighted music, allegedly to prevent the videos from going online.
RELATED: Santa Ana police blasted Disney songs to prevent a resident from filming them
Councilman David Penaloza said that public auditors sometimes cross the line and antagonize police while recording video. But, he added, the public has a right to film city employees while they are working for the public.
“That was one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever seen,” Penaloza said Wednesday.
In an interview last week, Santa Ana Police Chief David Valentin said the incident is under investigation and that he’s not aware of any similar incident in the department.
Valentin emphasized that Santa Ana has a specific policy to address videotaping of officers. The policy states that the public can photograph and film officers on the job and police are not allowed to “intentionally interfere” with those recordings.
During the council meeting, City Manager Kristine Ridge said the officer playing loud music was “completely outside” official policy.
“It’s a violation currently (of a noise ordinance,) so the investigation that’s ongoing will determine, did that officer violate policy? If so, he will be held accountable. Did he violate the Municipal code? If so, it will be referred to the city attorney. Did he violate a criminal code? If so, it will be referred to the D.A.”
Hernandez said he was also bothered by the fact that other officers at the scene, investigating a stolen Porsche, did nothing to turn down the music.
Councilwoman Thai Viet Phan noted that beyond playing loud music late at night, there was the bigger picture issue of why the copyrighted music was being played at all. Even a soft playing of a copyrighted song, she noted, can get a video pulled from social media and prevent people from exercising their First Amendment right to record public employees on the job.
Mayor Vicente Sarmiento agreed that the more important issue is that police were actively trying to prevent the dissemination of a video capturing their work. He pointed to well-known cases of police misconduct – Rodney King and George Floyd – that became public issues only after they were captured on videos that were then widely seen by the public.
“What bothers me most about this practice is that we’re trying to build trust with the community,” Sarmiento said. “We’re trying to establish this relationship where we say, ‘When you see something, say something.’ Well, sometimes, all you can say is to videotape something or to document something. And this really chills that sort of activity.”
Sarmiento and several other council members thanked Hernandez for his intervention. “He handled it extremely professionally, with restraint, with a lot of class but a lot of also respect for his neighbors…” the mayor said.
Hernandez said he has been deluged with emails and calls after the video made national and international news. A number of those emails, he said, have a “very violent intent.” Some in the community have accused Hernandez of being anti-police, dating back to last year when he accused Anaheim police of killing his cousin during a stand-off. But Hernandez said that “couldn’t be further from the truth.”
“To be pro-justice is not to be anti-anything,” Hernandez told his colleagues.
“It pains me that I had to show up in order for this to stop.”
Source: Orange County Register
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