Radical groups make regularly use the public comment period at Santa Ana City Council meetings to attack both Santa Ana police and the aggressive ICE enforcement tactics in Santa Ana. These radicals invariably claim to speak on behalf of the community in their claims to defund or otherwise hamstring ‘racist” local law enforcement.
These groups include CSO-OC, The Harbor Institute, Chispa-OC and VietRise.
However, a new poll commissioned by the SAPOA that the views espoused by these radical pressure groups are directly oppose to the views of the community they purport to speak for.
In fact, when it comes to law enforcement and public safety, the views of heavily-Latino Santa Ana generally track with mainstream public opinion across the country.
Santa Ana residents have a very positive view of the Santa Ana Police Department and the Santa Ana Police Officers Association.
They want the City Council to make sure police have the funding and tools to do their job effectively.
A large majority of Santa Ana residents strongly oppose ICE raids in their community, but they are able to separate their views on federal immigration law enforcement and local law enforcement.
Santa Ana residents also draw a clear distinction between criminal illegal immigrants and undocumented immigrants who are otherwise hard-working and law-abiding. A lopsided majority support the deportation of criminal illegal immigrants while overwhelmingly opposing the deportation of Dreamers and law abiding undocumented residents.
These findings include:
- 75% approval rating of Santa Ana Police Department – a net favorable rating of 31 points
- 72% support providing Santa Ana police with the most updated crime-fighting technology, including license plate readers and drones to track fugitives.
- 80% support providing SAPD officers with competitive salaries and benefits in order to retain experienced officers and attract quality recruits
- 89% of residents say the Santa Ana Police Department is an essential part of the community and needed to keep residents safe and secure.
Not exactly community fear and loathing of Santa Ana police.
These radical groups also try to blur the distinction between local policing and immigration enforcement, accusing Santa Ana police of collaborating with ICE in order to transfer negative views of the latter to the former.
This narrative falls flat according to the survey, which makes clear Santa Ana residents are able to distinguish between the two. While ICE is viewed unfavorably by 65% of Santa Ana residents, approval of the SAPD is sky high.
Activist groups like VietRise and The Harbor Institute oppose the deportation of any and all undocumented immigrants, regardless of the danger they pose to the community. Santa Ana residents take a very different tack.
75% of city residents support deporting illegal immigrants who have been convicted of a felony, while 75% oppose deporting undocumented immigrants who are productive, hard-working and have no criminal record.
This tracks very closely with years of national public opinion polls on these questions. The reality is the neo-Marxist philosophies of groups like VietRise and CSO-OC are light years apart from normal Santa Ana residents who want safe neighborhoods and can distinguish between criminal illegal aliens and hard-working undocumented immigrants and Dreamers who contribute to the economy and society.
These same groups often castigate moderate councilmembers, as well as the police, for wanting to “criminalize” the homeless.
The people of Santa Ana couldn’t disagree more: An overwhelming 94% place a high priority on dealing with homelessness, and 96% on cleaning up areas with high crime and drug use like East First Street.
Other findings:
- 78% say youth programs like the Santa Ana Police Athletics League help build trust between the police and community.
- 84% say the Mayor and City Council have a responsibility to ensure Santa Ana police have the funding they need to protect residents.
- 78% of residents oppose defunding the police.
While pro-law enforcement opinion is pretty overwhelming across the city, it is strongest in Ward 3 and 6 – represented by Councilmembers Jessie Lopez and David Penaloza, respectively. Both are running against each other in the 68th Assembly District. While Penaloza’s views on public safety and immigration enforcement are in synch with AD68 voters, Lopez’ history of demonizing law enforcement and calling for defunding the police put her directly in opposition to voter sentiment in the district.
This survey makes a few things crystal clear:
- Santa Ana residents want to live and work in safe neighborhoods, and understand that a well-funded, staffed and equipped police department that vigorously enforces the law is necessary to make that a reality.
- The attitudes of Santa Ana residents toward policing and immigration enforcement track very closely with mainstream public opinion across the United States.
- The people of Santa Ana have no difficulty separating their attitudes toward local policing from their feelings about immigration enforcement.
- Unlike radical groups like VietRise and The Harbor Institute, Santa Ana residents have no difficulty distinguishing between the criminal illegal immigrants who threaten their neighborhoods and the vast majority of undocumented who work hard and otherwise obey the law. They support deporting the former and leaving the latter alone.
In other words, when radical activists take the podium during public comments and claim to be speaking for “the community” when they berate the Santa Ana police and the mayor and council members who support them – they are lying. Their progressive allies on the City Council – and credulous reporters – might want to keep that in mind.
