City officials criticize Santa Ana police for blasting Disney music to prevent public from filming them
Santa Ana officials offered searing criticism Tuesday night of an incident where police played copyrighted Disney music from a squad car to prevent somebody from filming them and posting the footage on social media.
In addition to potentially violating the 1st Amendment right to record public employees, the incident also roused neighbors from their homes in the middle of the night. Video of the April 4 incident in the 1600 block of West Civic Center Drive has since gone viral and caught the attention of national media. It was posted to YouTube by an account that tracks police encounters, Santa Ana Audits.
As shown in the online posting, while police were investigating a possible stolen vehicle, they blasted various Disney tunes like “Reflection” from the movie “Mulan” and “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from “Encanto.” An officer was confronted by City Councilman Johnathan Hernandez, who lives in the neighborhood where the incident occurred. Hernandez scolded the officer after he admitted that he was playing the music and cited copyright infringement.
During a City Council meeting on Tuesday night, Hernandez proposed that the council consider directing city staff to draft a resolution or ordinance to ban the use of loud music by police officers. Other cities have had to contend with the issue as the practice of playing copyrighted music has spread. Last year, an Alameda County sheriff’s deputy played a Taylor Swift song while talking to protesters, and an officer in Beverly Hills played a Sublime song while being filmed by an activist.
Santa Ana council members criticized the actions of the police and supported the drafting of a resolution or ordinance.
“This is a practice that we can’t condone,” Hernandez said during the council meeting. “It is an unethical practice, and as members of the community, especially public servants, it’s not something that we can support as a city. It’s why I brought this ordinance forward, so that we can as a city, be on the right side of history, ensuring that we do everything that we can to uphold transparency, good ethics and to honor the Constitution and the amendments that we were elected to protect and serve.”
Several council members thanked Hernandez for being on the scene and his response to the situation. Hernandez has been a proponent for police accountability since he was elected to the dais in 2020. The issue hits close to home for the councilman, whose cousin was shot and killed by Anaheim police last year following a car chase and standoff. He’s said that his cousin was suffering from a mental health crisis and police unnecessarily escalated the situation.
During the council meeting, Councilman David Penaloza said that there should be consequences for the involved officers. Last week, Santa Ana Police Chief David Valentin said that the department is investigating the incident and that it “takes seriously all complaints regarding the service provided by the department and the conduct of its employees.”
It isn’t yet clear if one or more officers took part in the incident, though Hernandez discussed the issue with one specific officer in the video and council members singled out an unnamed officer during the meeting for playing the music. A Santa Ana police spokesperson did not return calls Wednesday.
“I must say that that was one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever seen in my life,” Penaloza said. “... I don’t know how an officer within our department could feel that confident to do that.”
Some of the council members mentioned that the incident exemplifies why the city needs police oversight. The city is currently considering the formation of a civilian police oversight committee sparked in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, which started a nationwide reckoning with police brutality. The city is still working on figuring out the specifics of the committee.
In response to questioning from the council during the meeting, City Manager Kristine Ridge said playing loud music goes against the city’s noise requirements in its municipal code.
“The behavior of playing loud music is completely outside of any policy that we have here, it’s a violation currently,” Ridge said. “So the investigation that’s ongoing will determine, did the officer violate policy? And 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.”
Councilwoman Thai Viet Phan said the ordinance or resolution should not be generally focused on preventing loud music but aim to prevent police officers or any public employee from using copyrighted music or materials in order to prevent the exercise of 1st Amendment-allowed recording.
Mayor Vicente Sarmiento agreed with Phan’s suggestion and said that the actions of the police could set back the progress the city is trying to forge between the community and police.
“We’re trying to establish this relationship where we say, ‘When you see something, say something,’” Sarmiento said. “Well, sometimes all you can say is to videotape something or to document something. This really chills that sort of activity. That chills it for victims and chills it for witnesses. It really erodes the trust that we’re trying to so painfully try to stimulate between the police and the public. So I’m really disappointed that we even have to talk about this as a practice.”
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