Forgive us for wondering if political considerations are influencing Santa Ana Police Department decisions when it comes to California Public Record Act requests.
For more than a year, we have been running into stonewall after stonewall in our CPRA requests for body worn camera (BWC) footage from police calls for service involving two Santa Ana elected officials: Councilman Johnathan Hernandez and SAUSD Trustee Alfonso Alvarez.
The former involves Hernandez being assaulted by a disgruntled former aide and the aide’s boyfriend.
The latter involve Alvarez’s arrest for drunk driving.
Both men are up for re-election. It’s unlikely the footage will put them in a positive light. But they’re elected officials and these are public records. The public has an interest at stake when their elected officials have encounters with the law – like being arrested or getting involved in a street brawl.
We have submitted three separate CPRA requests for BWC footage in the Hernandez incident, and two such requests for BWC footage of Alvarez’s arrest. The SAPD has denied each and every request. There is no legal restriction on releasing the footage. The SAPD simply refuses to do so.
On September 15, left-wing activist Fernando Delgado apparently baited Congressman Lou Correa into a heated verbal exchange about the Israel-Gaza conflict while backstage at the annual Fiestas Patrias – an exchange that attracted the attention of Santa Ana police officers on hand to provide security. Delgado was there as Councilman Hernandez’s guest.
On September 16, Delgado filed a CPRA for the BWC footage of the incident.
So color us amazed when, a mere two weeks later, the SAPD dutifully provided BWC footage from three different officers! Councilman Hernandez can even be seen in the videos assuring the officers that Delgado “is with me.”
It’s becoming very hard to avoid the conclusion that politics are at work here.
It has been explained to us that decisions on whether or not to release the footage rests with the SAPD Records Staff.
In the case of Fernando Delgado’s request for BWC footage, the decision to speedily approve his request and furnish the video was made by Records Manager Jessica Antes.
That is the same Jessica Antes who had denied all of OC Independent’s requests for BWC footage – using excuses to defy reason or simply because she – or someone further up the food chain – just doesn’t want to.
SAPD Records employees are represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
And SEIU has endorsed Hernandez for re-election.
We’d like to think such politics aren’t a factor in the aforementioned decisions to deny or grant requests BWC footage, but the PD Records Department seems intent on feeding that perception. If you’re a political ally of Councilman Hernandez requesting BWC footage involving Hernandez, your request is approved posthaste. If you’re a media source that has reported critically about Hernandez – those requests get stamped “DENIED.”
As we’d like to remind the SAPD, and Ms. Antes, transparency is an official “Guiding Principle” of the City of Santa Ana: “We provide information openly and hold ourselves accountable to the public regarding our actions and decisions.”
And here again, the City official asserts “We provide information openly and hold ourselves accountable to the public regarding our actions and decisions”:
So how about Ms. Antes gives a little with the accountability and openly providing information. There is no good reason not to.
