A California police department has launched an investigation into its own officers who were filmed blaring copyrighted Disney music in attempts to prevent residents from recording them.
The incident in question occurred during a vehicle search on the night of 4 April, when residents in Santa Ana, a city near Los Angeles, woke up to a series of Disney songs being blasted outside their windows. The songs included Toy Story’s You Got a Friend in Me, Encanto’s We Don’t Talk About Bruno, Mulan’s Reflection and Coco’s Un Poco Loco.
According to a video posted on YouTube, the songs emerged from a police cruiser that belonged to police officers who were investigating a stolen vehicle.
In the video, a woman can be heard asking the officers, “What’s the music for?,” saying that she was unable to sleep.
Johnathan Hernandez, a Santa Ana city councilman, is later seen in the video, asking the police officers, “Guys, what’s going on with the music here?”
An unnamed officer told Hernandez that he was playing the music from his phone and on the cruiser’s PA system in an attempt to prevent a resident, who was recording him, from continuing to do so. The officer explained that it had to do with “copyright infringement.”
Hernandez went on to ask the officer if he knew who he was, to which he replied, “You’re a city councilperson.”
“Absolutely … and this is my district. You’re not going to conduct yourself like that in front of my neighbors,” Hernandez can be heard saying.
The officer then apologized repeatedly to Hernandez and to the individual filming the incident.
“My people live here, brother. Please treat them with respect ... There’s kids that need to go to school. There’s people that are working. You chose to use our taxpayer dollars to disrespect a man with your music. That’s childish, sir,” Hernandez told the officer.
In a statement to the Washington Post, Hernandez explained that his neighbors were afraid and confused by the behavior. He added that he found it ironic that the police were playing songs from Encanto and Coco in a mostly Latino neighborhood.
“Those were films that were used to bridge the Latino community,” said Hernandez, “and police are using them to silence it.”
The Santa Ana police department has responded to the incident, saying that it is investigating the officers involved.
“We are committed to serving our community and we understand the concerns as it relates to the video. 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,” it said.
The incident reflects an apparently growing trend in which police officers play copyrighted music in order to prevent videos of them from being posted on to social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram, which can remove content that includes unauthorized content.
Last July, a police officer in Oakland, California was filmed blasting Taylor Swift’s Blank Space as he was confronted by several activists on the steps of a courthouse.
Similarly, in February last year, an individual who filmed his visit to the Beverly Hills Police Station, where he sought to obtain body camera footage, encountered an officer who began playing Sublime’s Santeria.