Cop Admits To Playing Copyrighted Music Through Squad Car PA To Keep Videos Off YouTube

A police in Santa Ana, California, admitted to blaring Disney favorites from a squad car PA system in an attempt to keep citizens’ videos of their actions off of YouTube. It just so happens they woke up a sleeping city council member, who took police to task for their annoying and suspicious tactic.

Using copyright infringement against those who record police actions hasn’t really work so far, which may be why this officer decided to really blare Disney tunes during an investigation of a car theft. At the moment, the video posted by Santa Ana Audits is still up after being posted six days ago, so it’s safe to say this officer woke up an entire community for nothing:

As Vice points out, this tactic is well known:

“Hey, he’s playing music,” the YouTuber said in Spanish. “Because he knows that on my [YouTube] channel, I can’t upload videos with music in them.”

For a few moments, the video shows red and blue lights flashing across the street, as we hear lyrics that recall the animated friendship of Buzz Lightyear and Woody:

When the road looks rough ahead / and you’re miles and miles from your nice warm bed / you just remember what your old pal said / Boy, you’ve got a friend in me

This is yet another entry in a pattern of police playing copyrighted music while being filmed. Starting last year, cops have played Sublime and The Beatles in Beverly Hills, country music in Illinois, and Taylor Swift in Alameda County, California, in response to being recorded by civilians, in what is looking more and more like a collective attempt of police officers attempting to trick online platforms into auto-censoring videos of their actions.

The best part of the video by far was when Santa Ana City Councilmember Johnathan Ryan Hernandez showed up and confronted police about the tactic. The cop playing the music admitted to what protesters and others who film police actions have known all along. Hernandez gave the officer an epic dressing down and demanded an apology for the person filming the scene. Here’s the whole thing incase you don’t feel like watching a 12 minute video for the satisfying bit:

At that point, a small crowd of residents had gathered, so Hernandez walked up to the officer who was running the impromptu Disney DJ set and asked why he was playing loud music.

“Why? Because it will be copyright infringement for him,” the officer says, pointing at the camera.

“So you’re using our resources that way?” Councilmember Hernandez says.

“No, I’m not using our resources. It’s my phone,” the officer replies.

“Do you know who I am?” Hernandez asks. The officer pauses, then says that he does recognize the city official — and his demeanor shifts.

“You’re not gonna conduct yourself like that in front of my neighbors,” Councilmember Hernandez continues. The officer apologizes to Hernandez, but Hernandez isn’t satisfied: “Apologize to him,” he says, motioning to the camera-holding YouTuber.

“My people live here, brother. Please treat them with respect,” Hernandez says to the officer. “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 a man with your music. That’s childish, sir.”

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Santa Ana PD release a statement on Twitter acknowledging the video. Santa Ana PD told Vice that using squad car audio system is not department policy. YouTube won’t always remove a video for copyright infringement. Sometimes the site will place an ad on the video, with proceeds going to the copyright holder.

Hernandez, who witnessed Santa Ana police gun down his cousin shortly after taking office, managed to find some dark humor in the moment.

“I noticed that they were playing songs from Coco and Encanto. Those were movies that Disney had used to bridge to the Latino community. Then the police used that to try to silence us,” he said, laughing quietly. “Pretty ironic.”