Read the February 3 meeting.

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Jennifer L. Hall

Mayor, you can go ahead whenever you're ready.

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Jennifer L. Hall

Madam Clerk, please conduct a roll call. Council Member Becerra. Council Member Hernandez. Council Member Lopez. Here. Council Member Phan. Here. Council Member Vazquez.

Benjamin Vazquez

Present.

Jennifer L. Hall

Mayor Pro Tem Penalosa. Mayor Mescua. Present. Four members present. That is a quorum. Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Are there any additions or deletions to the closed session? There are not. Do any Council Members need to announce their abstentions on closed session items? There are none. Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers for closed session?

Jennifer L. Hall

We do not have any speakers in person for closed session on Zoom or we also did not receive any emails related to the closed session agenda.

Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

We will now recess this portion of the meeting to consider the items in closed session.

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Mayor, you can go ahead, please. You ready? Thank you, Madam City Clerk. We're going to start the meeting. I hereby reconvene the Santa Ana City Council meeting to order. Thank you all for being very patient. A lot of closed session items on the agenda today. Madam Clerk.

Jennifer L. Hall

This meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. The public may access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel or the City's website. Please bear with us as the technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting. This is a meeting to conduct the business of the City. There's an opportunity to call for a recess or break or even to clear the meeting room if a meeting becomes too disruptive to properly conduct business. Warnings will be provided prior to any action taken. We appreciate your cooperation. For everyone's safety, per the fire marshal,

Jennifer L. Hall

please do not stand or place objects in the aisles, in front of the dais, along the back wall of the council chamber, or in front of entrances and exits. During city council presentations and oaths of office, guests of individuals being recognized are invited to come to the front to take photos. For roll call, Council Member Becerra. Here. Council Member Hernandez.

Present. Mayor Pettin.

Jennifer L. Hall

Council Member Lopez. Here. Council Member Fan. Here. Council Member Vasquez. Present. Mayor Pertempeñalosa. Present. Mayor Meskwa. Present. All seven members present.

Jennifer L. Hall

Madam Clerk, before we proceed to the Pledge of Allegiance, please make an announcement. For members of the public who are on Zoom or teleconference, in order to be in the speaker queue and request to speak during public comments on agenda or non-agenda items within the city's jurisdiction, you must dial star 9 from your phone or click the button labeled raised hand from zoom now in order to be in the speaker queue once public comments commence thank you thank you

very much the first item on the agenda is the pledge of allegiance pastor danny could you please lead us in the pledge sir yes thank you ma'am would you please stand and place your right hand over your heart ready begin i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

Words of inspiration will be provided by the police chaplain. Come on up, sir.

Oftentimes I come up with a little story at the beginning, and I know there's a lot of business to be accomplished tonight, so I am going to just pray a little prayer. But I want you to know that when I have the privilege of coming here, I get here an hour early because I think of all of you. I know you've had a long day and there's a lot of decisions to be made. So I ask that the room would be prepared for you when you come in. And that's the simple blessing tonight. So Lord God, I ask that you would bless our leaders. You would bless those gathered here. You would bless our city.

That tonight, Lord, you would give wisdom and insight for decisions to be made. That you would bless those to be honored this night. But Lord, we're always thankful for our citizens. We're thankful for the police chief, the fire chief. We're thankful for those that lead all the first responders. And God, we do ask blessing. We always need your blessing. In the name of the Lord, amen.

Thank you very much.

Madam Clerk, are there any additions or deletions to the City Council? To the agenda, excuse me. Yes, ma'am. We're going to delete council member fan.

Jennifer L. Hall

Yes, mayor and city council. There is one deletion from tonight's city council agenda. Public hearing item number 18 has been canceled by staff and will be renoticed for February 17th,

2026. And we'll be heard at that time. Thank you, madam clerk. All right. We're going to do presentations. The first one is mine. I'll be presenting to Templo Galvario for outstanding community contributions please come up to the front

Oh yeah, sure. I'm running out of my car.

Okay, close to the mic. We're family, huh? All right.

Good evening, everyone. At this time, I'd like to invite Senior Pastor Danny DeLeon, as he came forward already, to join me. Why am I doing this? Pastor Danny DeLeon Jr. was officially installed this past Sunday as the senior pastor of Templo Galvario. First time in 50 years. Congratulations. Yes, a round of applause.

It was a beautiful event, and I was so honored to be there. So thank you so much, Pastor. For context, Pastor Danny, I'm going to call him Danny. It says Daniel, but I'm going to call you Danny, has been part of the Templo Galvario family since the age of six and now has the honor of leading the church he grew up in. His lifelong service in many roles has fostered a deep love for the congregation and a strong commitment to the surrounding community. Along with his wife, Christine, Chris, I call her Chris, Pastor Danny leads with joy, humility, and a genuine servant's heart.

Their leadership reflects a deep gratitude for all that God has done throughout their journey at Templo Calvario. Above all, their greatest passion remains seeing lives transformed through the power of the gospel today and for generations to come. and tonight is my honor to recognize the very church he now leads, Templo Calvario, for its meaningful contributions to the City of Santa Ana. Through its community initiative, Heart for the City, Templo Calvario is dedicated to meeting the needs of our beloved Santa Ana community.

Each week, this program serves approximately 2,000 to 2,500 individuals with compassion and care. What began as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic has continued faithfully growing into a lasting effort that now impacts nearly 130,000 people each year. Thank you so much. This work stands as a powerful example of service, resilience, and commitment to community. Templo Calvario exists to evangelize the lost, train new believers, and commission them to serve in ministry. The church embraces a bold and intentional vision, one that dares to be different by equipping believers to reproduce their faith.

This commitment to discipleship ensures that the work of the ministry extends beyond the walls of the church. Through this mission, Templo Galvario continues to fulfill the Great Commission by raising up leaders prepared to serve and impact future generations. We are deeply grateful for our partnership with Templo Galvario and the City of Santa Ana, whose support makes it possible to continue serving the community that we all care for. And with that, thank you so very much, Pastor Daniel. You want to come up and introduce everybody? Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Mayor, very much. It's an honor to be here. But I would certainly like to point to my friends that are here on the stage. For every Friday, it is their hands that literally touch pretty much every box that goes out. Pastor Marcos Roman, this is his initiative that came from his heart as a result of COVID. And one joke that I try to say is many times I've tried to ask him, are you sure you want to keep doing this? And it's always come back with a resounding yes. And here we are today. Brother Marcelo Juarez is here. By the way, all Santa Ana natives here.

Brother Marcelo Juarez is his right hand guy in helping. And Brother Jose Martinez over here, the other hand. These are incredible men with 20 other volunteers that give their time every single Friday. So thank you, Mayor, for recognizing their incredible efforts. Thank you. Thank you very much. Is there anybody else? Okay. All right. You can't be without words. Okay. So with that, I'd like to present this to Templo Galvario for all of the work that you do in our community. And thank you. And I know you also, with the chamber, you'll be having the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast, and you've had it every year since I've been elected.

So thank you very much for doing that. and you also attend our faith-based meetings that we attend quarterly, and you're involved in the community. So thank you very much, come on. Thank you, thank you, Mary. Thank you, here you go. Let's take a picture.

The council, you want to come down? Anybody from the council here? Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next presentation is by Councilmember Lopez, please.

Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Hi, so if we can have everybody with the MADD organization campaign, Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Thank you, Mr. Bean.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Okay, good evening everybody. Today we're really proud to recognize Mothers Against Drunk Driving, also known as MADD, for the commitment to eliminate impaired driving, not just in the state but really throughout the entire nation. And so I'm really proud to recognize Mothers Against Drunk Driving for their strength and and resilience in the battle to end impaired driving. MAD's vision is simple but bold, to end impaired driving in our lifetime by changing behaviors, strengthening laws, and shifting how future generations think about road safety. They do this by supporting victims and survivors

Jessie LopezItem 2

at no cost, educating youth and adults on prevention, and by advocating for stronger evidence-based policies. Additionally, MAD is working to ensure that every new vehicle is equipped with life-saving technology by 2030 and I encourage all of you to get involved with this fight. Once fully implemented this technology is expected to save more than 10,000 lives per year. Mothers Against Drunk Driving also cultivates a wide array of awareness campaigns such as the Eliminate Mad California. This campaign starts the

Jessie LopezItem 2

the holiday season, a period where impaired driving usually goes up because of Thanksgiving and the different holidays, including the New Year's Day. By lighting up civic buildings in red, MADD calls on families, businesses, and communities to unite in solidarity to honor victims and promote safe driving practices and also promote responsibility. Back in December, my office requested that our water tower be illuminated in red to support the mad California campaign standing with you and this important mission and I want to thank Public Works and the city manager's office for making that happen

Jessie LopezItem 2

mothers against drunk driving has helped reduce drunk driving death nationwide by more than 40 40 percent saving more than 500,000 lives and that impact is only possible because of the dedicated volunteers like you this didn't happen overnight victims and survivors worked for 16 years alongside Congress automakers the industry and the Department of Transportation to make this possible your service is powerful reminder that even in the face of profound loss bureaucracy one person can help create lasting change our city is safer more compassionate and more aware because of your commitment and for that

Jessie LopezItem 2

I thank you and on behalf of the city of Santa Ana we just want to recognize you both for your advocacy and we would love to hear from both of you.

I'm Alina Medina and we got our family got involved with MAD because of a drunk driving crash. Our crash happened in on April 6 1996 at the intersection of flower in Wilshire where there is a cross. A three-time convicted drunk driver killed my little brother Chunky and my best friend Sonia. I was injured in the crash. We are grateful to be recognized

We are grateful to be recognized for our continued volunteer work with Mothers Against and strict driving in the city of Santa Ana. We are Sonia and Chunky's voice. We are the voices for many victims and survivors who were impacted by this preventable crime. This year marks 30 years of our offender, of our crash and our offender is still in prison. Our family will continue to bring awareness to our community about the dangers of impaired driving. We will continue to stand beside the Santa Ana Police Department at their checkpoints. This is our never-ending mission to help save lives. Please don't drive impaired.

Always designate a sober driver. And we are so grateful for the city of Santa Ana for recognizing us. Thank you.

I just want to say personally to Jesse Lopez, Thank you so much for assisting us, for responding to our emails, and for joining us in this mission that we have. It's part of our life. We continue to do this volunteer work because families continue to be destroyed by this preventable crime. It seems to be happening more and more in our city and

it's very difficult for families like ours to see it continue. We ask everyone to join us and support us in this partnership with MADD and thank you so much for having that Illuminate MADD campaign get pushed through this past past year, seeing our Santa Ana water tower lit up in red, there's no words really to describe, you know. So we'll continue this mission, and we thank you all for recognizing us. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. The final presentation is by Councilmember Hernandez, recognizing Suavecito Foundation for Exemplary Leadership in Youth Government. Come on up. Thank you very much.

All right. Thank you, members of the public, for your round of applause for the Suavecito Foundation. If we can have the students and representatives come up here.

Benjamin VazquezItem 3

I mean, that'd be awesome. Girls? Ambience?

Alright. All right. Well, what a wonderful day today is and what a humbling recognition I have before us. Today, February 3rd, 2026, I have the honor of recognizing for their exemplary leadership in the community, the Suavecito Foundation. If we could please put our hands together for these students.

Today, I wanted to take this moment to recognize the incredible students from our city and the leadership that is being cultivated by the Suavecito Foundation. They're a local nonprofit organization that has started here in the Santa Ana community and it was created by founding members of the Suavecito Foundation and Roman Reyna from the Santa Ana community. If we can please put our hands together for them.

Since its founding, the foundation has touched countless lives right here in the beautiful city of Santa Ana. Beyond their youth programs, the foundation has programming that provides support to veterans, cultivates cultural events and adoptions of local elementary schools, where they provide and support in any way that they can to our students. Ways that they have supported our students is by providing translation support for back to school nights or hosting Saturday events to ensure that families and children are both engaged. What makes this foundation truly special is their innovative growth model.

Rather than focusing on the benchmarks where someone should be, Suavecito meets young people where they are. They help them grow to achieve their next level and they remind them that there's another level with their name on it. They help them build confidence, they help them develop character, and they work to ensure that these students are developing social emotional intelligence along the way. One of the foundation's proudest efforts has been its development of their youth in government program. This program was cultivated by many of the young leaders that you see up here today. Through their partnership

with community organizations and the city of Santa Ana, youth in government not only teaches students how local and state government works, they also encourage civic engagement through community service. They encourage education and leadership development. These students are not only learning about how your local government functions, they are learning how they fit into it. They see their voices reflected in these seats that you sit in. They see them reflected here at this dais and with that they know that they can be leaders within their own right. An example of one of our emerging leaders

is a young lady by the name of Andrea Rendon. She applied for and earned a position in national youth advocacy. And she's from Santa Ana and she will be representing our community in Washington, D.C. this March. This is an incredible achievement and a testament to her hard work.

In closing, the Suavecito Foundation and its students remind us that when we invest in young people and we believe in their potential, we are investing in the future of Santa Ana. We are proud of you. We look forward to the impact that you will all make in Santa Ana and beyond the state. Thank you

And I would like to present these certificates of Recognition to the leaders that I'm going to be calling up here if we can bring up Roman Reina here. Thank you, sir

Carla Suarez, I'm going to call each of you by name because you're important.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

Thank you very much.

Sui Vasquez, is not with us today.

Angela Munoz, thank you very much Angela.

Sonia Bravo, Sonia Bravo is not with us today but we're very thankful for her. Joseph Bravo, not with us today, but we're very thankful. Andres Ramirez, Andres Ramirez, we appreciate you too. These are alumni's. Yes, Joshua Bravo, you may not be here with us,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

but we appreciate, we got you, okay.

Counted them out too early. Jonathan Vainas as well, we appreciate you. Patricia Sanchez, that's you, thank you very much, madam. for your leadership. Logan Thompson, Logan Thompson.

Giovanni Diaz, Giovanni Diaz, thank you very much Giovanni. Saul Avellanda, Avellana, yes. Okay. Natalie Diaz Liliana, Natalie Diaz.

You can get it corrected. Katia Arrevalo. Katia Arrevalo. Thank you very much. Alex Diaz. Thank you, Alex.

Daniel Martinez. Daniel, thank you very much. Paola Rayon. Thank you, Paola.

Angel Saucedo. Angel, thank you.

ASARI MORENO, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR EFFORTS IN LEADING THE COMMUNITY. ANDREA RENDON, AGAIN, WE WANT TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR EFFORTS TO LEAD THIS COMMUNITY. DESTINY MARTINEZ, LILIANA CALDERON, AND JOSHUA GONZALEZ.

Would you brave students mind sharing some words and talking to the members of the public and members of the council? We would love to hear from you all. Here's our president. Yes, please. Hi, sir.

Guess I'll be going first. So good evening, everyone. My name is Josh Gonzalez, as you just heard right now. I'm president of the Santa Ana delegation. I'm a senior attending secretary of high school. So just like kind of describing a bit of my experience here at the program, this is my second year here. So I actually entered this during the end of my sophomore year. I would describe myself as someone who isn't really as talkative. I would, like, fear standing in front of a crowd. I wouldn't, like, enjoy talking to people in general.

A lot of these people, like my fellow delegates here, would explain to you that it was the complete opposite. But being truthful with all of you guys, I wasn't really one to talk out. A lot of the program, it's kind of hard to explain. We follow this type of curriculum that you are learning a bunch of different stuff, but you're learning it while not really knowing that you're learning something. You just kind of stand in a room, do some activity, talk in front of a group of five people, and then all of a sudden, in the next moment, you're standing in a group of 20.

and then you're able to present a whole different thing in front of a group of 20 you just kind of gradually grow up in a sense that you don't really like in a way that is a lot more confusing to explain it's something that's like you yourself need to kind of go through it to really experience it my change it's been a lot I feel like this program itself has been really helpful for myself it's allowed me to grow to someone who I can actually say I'm confident I will probably do well in college. I was, it was something, one of my biggest fears,

like not really being able to talk to people. Like it's such a powerful tool to have in the day of today. It's networking and it's what this program really did pull out for me. It allowed me to grow, give out my voice, and actually spread my own ideas, explain how I feel about certain things, and truly lead a group. Something that I didn't believe I would actually be able to do.

Thank you guys.

Hi, my name is Nara Diaz. I'm a freshman at Valley High School and I'm here today with Santa Ana Youth and Government. Back then I struggled with public speaking and communication. I was too afraid to speak up for myself. I missed out on a lot of opportunities and often lowered my own standards. Everything started to change when I joined YNG. This program helped me grow in many ways I never expected. Even my mom noticed how I became more confident and how I improved my public speaking and how I started getting more involved in more programs. Roman inspired me to see things differently and pushed me to step out of my comfort zone.

Because of that support, I began speaking up more, getting more involved with other programs, and even running for vice president as an eighth grader against older students than me. If it weren't for YMG, I wouldn't be the person I am today. This program didn't just help me find my voice, it helped me believe in it. Thank you.

Hello, everyone. My name is Andrea Rendon. I'm a resident of Santa Ana attending Foothill High School in North Houston. So joining Youth in Government, I came in super unprepared. I knew one person and I asked her, what do you do in this program? And she told me, like, talk. That's it. So I came into like a Suavecito headquarters at 430, not knowing anything about it. And I met all of these incredible people. people. They gave me the opportunity to do so much and I'm very appreciative for them and I'm willing to or I'm hoping I can give back to my community in a matter of years.

So thank you to Roman and Ms. Patty and everyone else.

Evening everyone, Roman Reyna, lead advisor for Youth in Government. Absolutely amazing program. It's model legislation so everything that happens in Sacramento, our students do do it. We go to Sacramento every February when our legislators aren't on site, so we literally take over every single room in the Capitol, the Senate, the Assembly, the Governor's Office, all the way down to the basement and breakout rooms. You guys all participate in this program whether you realize it or not. As soon as you leave today and you get in that car, you're going to put that seatbelt on. That law not only originated from this

program, statewide program, but originated from students from Santa Ana High School in 1991 as model legislation so they do have a great impact on our community as they start seeing things the issues and the challenges that they foresee coming down they start dressing them now I just wanted to give you a little bit of background about that so thanks so very much appreciate it and councilman Fernandez thank you for your support and allowing us to have Bill Knight here

hi everyone my name is Joshua I am an alumni from Pepperdine University and and I'm an alumni of this program. I actually was president for three years with my sister being Sonia Bravo, she isn't here, but she was also president before me. And so I definitely will say the program taught me a lot of things that unfortunately I couldn't learn in my own family. With a dad that came here from Mexico, he taught me a lot of important skills, such as work ethic and really putting myself out there when it comes to being determined. And then honestly just showing me how to properly

like put myself out there when it comes to working and showing people I can do things but unfortunately due to that and he never was able to teach me skills such as public speaking networking and communication and it's not that he didn't want to it's just no one ever taught him those skills and so this program when I first enter it Roman loves the story he'll because when my sister was president I didn't want to be a part of it I would just stay in the the car and just hang out when they're doing events, public speaking, and other things like

that. And so he loves telling that story because eventually I did decide to come out and be part of the program. And from there, it just was a really big eye-opener because one, I think biggest thing for me is Roman's determination to continually give me opportunities to grow and provide me an environment that allowed me to fail and learn from that. And so through that, I definitely will say say, my public speaking, my leadership, and all those skills really developed during high school, which then ended up helping me transition to a college setting where I was able to participate

in other leadership programs on campuses, outside, as well as in our abroad program where we would go to Sacramento, Fresno, and lead these big programs. And so I would definitely say, like, when it comes to skills, they provide an environment that really allows you to grow, not only in your development with public speaking, but also just developing relationships within the community and really teaching you to give back. Thank you.

One body. One body. One body.

One body. One body. One body. One body. One body. One body. One body. One body. One body. One body. One body. One body. One body. One body. One body. One body. One body. One body. One body. One body. One body. One body.

Thank you.

Great. Thank you very much. Give them some time to clear out or take a seat and enjoy the meeting. !

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 3

and members of the public i do have reportable action also want to again to thank the community for their patience while we had closed session this evening we did have an important matter to discuss and the city council has asked me to report out the following the city council received three employee complaints alleging that council member hernandez defamed harassed and retaliated against city police officers one of the three complaining employees also filed a tort claim claim against the city in August of 2025. He was alleging violations of the city charter and the ethics code.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 3

At an open session council meeting on October 7th, 2025, the city council directed that the city engage an investigator to review the employee complaints and to report back to the council. This evening, the investigator did report back to the council. The investigator reported that one of the complaint employees did not make himself available for an interview. and council member Hernandez also declined to participate in the investigation based on the interviews and the research conducted by the investigator it was reported to the council that the complaints were not

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 3

sustained the council consensus is that while all of them have personal rights and can speak their minds they would like everyone to be mindful that they represent the city and what they say and do reflects on the city especially their actions while they're up here on the dais and that is all the reportable

action that we have thank you madam city attorney this is the time of the meeting for the city council to receive comments from the public on agenda and non-agenda items madam city clerk please explain the public comment procedures call the first speakers it is for three minutes ma'am

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

thank you mayor pursuant to resolution number 2025-004 speakers are requested to address the city council directly and to refrain from profane language racial epitaphs and libelous or slanderous statements that disturb the decorum of the meeting pursuant to the Brown Act the City Council may not enter into discussion as this time as the mayor stated speakers will have three minutes for their comments before calling speakers I'll report the summary of emails provided as of today as of today at by 2 p.m. the city received a total of 29 e comments one on non agenda topics

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

27 related to item number 15 and one related to number 8 item number 18 those were distributed to the City Council and posted online for public review well now hear from members of the public that are physically present in the council chamber followed by those on zoom to provide their comments on agenda or non-agenda items please state your name and the warder neighborhood that you reside in for the record i'll call three names at a time if you could please line up in the center aisle to await your turn at the podium first three speakers sue palak gil sanchez and kathy moorhead

Can you hear me? Okay. Good evening. Sue from Ward 4. We need drones. Simple as that. All the cities around us seem to be having them and we're borrowing them. It's a game changer, you know. I should not even have to be up here to even try to convince any of you for getting drones. Currently, you know, it's pretty embarrassing. Our own drones could be deployed and on the scene in about two minutes in emergencies. And among other things, they can give real-time info to first responders before they even

arrive at an emergency. Top of my list, big time, school shooting threats. We all know the stories that came out about response times and the tragic loss of life that could have been prevented. There's a whole bunch of things that I know all of you know and have already read about and been briefed on, so I'm not going to go through them. But drones can also identify the movements of of outside professional agitators and help protect our peaceful protesters. On a personal note, a child was missing at my complex last week.

It took five minutes for officers to arrive, which was absolutely amazing, and 10 minutes to coordinate a response, which resulted in approximately 15 minutes of what's considered lost search time. and this does not include how much time it took to get a helicopter in the air. We need our own drones. They could have had tremendous effect in this situation that we were facing where I lived. Understand it takes time to arrange for drones from other cities. The helicopters that we use may be on duty as far away as Yerba Linda or South County. Other cities may not have any

available drones to loan. Maybe they'll start charging us. Our officers need evolving state-of-the-art tools to save lives. No one will forget how you voted tonight, particularly with the school incident. If this does not pass tonight, then for anyone who votes against drones, you will have to live with yourselves when outcomes and emergencies without drones that could have been used turn tragic. And you're always going to question if they could have made a big difference in the situation. And I'm sorry to say that I really feel the drone issues should have been on the agenda not for a vote a long time ago. This is not good.

I don't know why things are being even questioned about this. Just about every city around us has drones and we're using them, but that's probably going to end at some point in time. Thank you. Have a good evening. God bless America. And I'll be back.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Gil Sanchez, Kathy Moorhead, Manuel Avila.

Good evening. My name is Gil Sanchez. I'm a 73-year resident of Santa Ana, both on Eastside and Westside. Anyway, my argument against the drones is they make me very nervous. As it is, we're being watched, I think, sufficiently enough. My question would be to the council people. So if ICE comes and asks you for this drone information, would you be giving it to them? Would that put the citizens in the spotlight if we were just peacefully protesting?

I'd like to think that that's not the case. I'm not sure how far this drone program would go. My next question would be accountability.

Is there an oversight on this or the drill just come and spy on us and then who's watching who's watching the watchers and just what I'm asking.

My apologies to the police, but I don't want to live in a police state as it is. There's ICE agents patrolling our neighborhoods and harassing us arresting citizens. I don't feel that we need this much vigilante actions that can be imposed on our citizens. Anyway, I'd just like to ask the council members to consider these factors when you think about implementing this program.

Please put some kind of oversight on it. That's all I have to say. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Cathy Moorhead, followed by Manuel Avila and Mark Spratt.

Hi, good evening. My name is Cathy Moorhead. I'm from Park Santiago, which I think it's ward three. Is that right? Or two? Three. Anyway, I'm here tonight to talk about some confusion and concerns regarding the One Broadway Broadway Plaza project by Mike Hara that's come back into play. I really want to raise public awareness about this project because 37 stories is a very large, long-lasting piece of legacy that will be built in this neighborhood.

The mailers were only sent out to a 4,000 square foot radius. Really this is a project that concerns the entire city because everyone from Newport Beach to Tustin Hills will see this building. It will glow at night, you know, affecting people's circadian rhythms and such. And I'm very concerned why at the Sunshine meeting that I went to, that Mike Harris is saying he's got all the approvals he needs, he just needs this zoning change, but everything else has been 100% approved. I went online, I looked it up. Now, AI is always he's not the most reliable source, but it's usually pretty informative.

And it says that he does not have the approvals, that he has to go back through EIR. And then, of course, there's the zoning change, even though he really is insisting that it's all been approved. And so, that said, I just wonder where he's getting this idea from and why he's broadcasting it publicly at the Sunshine meetings. These are my concerns. concerns. Traffic, safety for all the schools that are surrounding the project, night sky issues, the circadian disruption of people's circadian rhythms in the homes surrounding it with the light shining in their windows. They can get cancer.

They can get very sick from having too much light in the area. And this is all residential around where he's building this tower. It's going to cast a 2,000 square foot or 2,000 lineal foot shadow at 3 o'clock in the afternoon towards French Park and other things. It's like a huge sundial in Santa Ana that's going to be constantly towering over every single neighborhood.

Anyway, so I ask you to keep the project done commercial and not residential. I don't think that a 37-story residential tower is appropriate, nor does it serve the the surrounding neighborhoods and the residents of those neighborhoods. I think we need a project that is more integrated into the downtown than this. Thank you very much.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Manuel Avila, Mark Spratt, John Ramirez. Hi.

Hello, Mayor, I'm Valerie Amazukua.

Oh, okay, cool. My name is Manuel Avila, and I have an important message for all of the global government that I discovered a powerful thing that looks so powerful it can even like go on the news and not look crazy. It's actually that my birth has like so much spiritual artistic synchronicities in the Christian Bible and also in the Hindu Bible that it would actually look like beautiful even if the government ever like like talked about it and presented it and it's not just that there's so much biblical scripture and art that's like the the exact date. Like, my birthday is the exact Passover date out of the Bible.

And then my star sign and moon sign are the exact animals of the down chapter eight, the goat and the ram. And then my mom's name is Leah, and my girlfriend's name is Leah. And, like, there's a Bible prophecy about man marrying Leah, and there's a Jehovah thing where Emmanuel changes his name to my delight is in her. And that's kind of like Jehovah both having a Leah that has their gifts. and also the Christian Bible has actually gotten closer to the prophecy, not as the Bible updating magically, I don't think. I think it was actually the entire global community of Christians. There are a

bunch of publishers for the King James Version Bible, there are a bunch of publishers for the New International Version Bible, like there are translations, right? But then there are a bunch of publications of different translations and it's weird the whole earth, all the Christian community has actually modulated the Bible in the same one direction and the whole earth has published Bibles in a changed translational direction that also like it crashed on closer in time prophecy and all the prophecy got stronger with each of the updates that I've seen that I've caught out of the

Bible to keep updating closer towards my prophecy and it's cool that the Christian community looks like it's supporting my prophecy as well. And I also would like to report that I've created inventions for infinite money, infinite thermos for every human, infinite computing power, do the simulation of computer hardware, a simulated DOS optic disk computer, can be infinite power, it allows us to create infinite kids. I created souls, real souls, and I've been in correspondence with Donald Trump. I have three letters about Emily F. E. Cayley, the song acronym, money, options, clean power, kids, love energy

generators, and it says fractal earths. I have three letters from, one from Biden, two from Trump about Emmett and Kay Ali, and we can even get Jesus to control the entire political system after we talk to Jesus with our third eyes. If you want to create kids, the main themes of quadrillions of art clouds allow AIs to understand qualia that creates souls. So an orgasm would be like nuke, supernova, volcano, and like red, orange, champagne, like warmth or something. You know like like it would teach art, it would showcase art to create qualia, and then you create loving generators that emphasize fractal earths.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Manuel, your time is up.

Okay, but the Bible looks really beautiful, and so does the Hindu Bible, and the Hindu Bible just updated with the Christian Bible. They both updated together right now for Jacob and Bishop.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

The next three speakers, Mark Spratt, John Ramirez, and Tim Rush.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and council members. My name is Mark Spratt. I'm a proud homeowner of Ward 3 for over 11 years, and I'm also the son of two very hard-working immigrants. I stood here at this lecture in October, and I warned you that Councilmember Jesse Lopez took our hard-earned sales revenue to sponsor a festival in Anaheim. While she is actively campaigning for state assembly in that same city, I asked for accountability, and I got silence. Now I have the data, and the data is damning.

I'm holding here forensic of a report that Dale Helvig presented to you in January, and it proves that Councilmember Lopez isn't just making mistakes, she's totally an outlier in the city. But here's what's terrifying to every taxpayer. When Dale and I got these records, they showed $3,000. These $3,000 of Santa Ana money was exported to Anaheim. $3,000 that should have stayed here with our residents who are having a hard time feeding their kids and paying their rent. not buying influence for a city council member who's campaigning to do a job in Sacramento. And city staff on the eighth floor, I don't know how this happened.

You know, our policy is clear, period. Anaheim is not Santa Ana. You know, we want the team on the eighth floor to really understand why you're signing off on something that completely is beyond the pale and it violates our policy. And to my neighbors watching at home, this is your money. Your representative is buying influence in Anaheim and Sacramento with your checkbook. Councilmember Lopez, I demand two things tonight. Number one, personal repayment. Do not hide behind a budget transfer. Write a personal check to the City of Santa Ana for the full $3,000. Personal accountability is the only

remedy for this breach of trust. And number two, withdrawal. If your focus is so clearly on the voters of Anaheim and Sacramento, then do the honorable thing and withdraw your candidacy for State Assembly and focus on the families of of Santa Ana. Thank you. And by the way, when I was here in October and I gave these comments, I was retaliated against by, you know, Jessie was on the phone and she called me a racist. And I took great offense to that, you know, and I'm not a racist. I love my country. I love all the people in this country. I'm just, these are irregularities. And Jessie, I just

think you should pay the money back. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 3

Yeah, just a quick point of clarification, the $3,000 event.

Madam City, we can't, Councilor Lippes, we can't respond. No, this is not a dialogue. This is a point of clarification. Madam City Attorney, can you in a general way?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 3

You can respond during your council comments.

Thank you, Madam City Attorney. Good to know. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

John Ramirez, Tim Rush, Victor Mendez.

Good evening, Mayor, council members, and city staff. My name is John Ramirez, and I've lived here my whole life, and I'm a resident in Ward 2. I want to speak in favor of item 15 tonight. I believe a drone program will be a positive and effective tool to aid our SEPD officers in their ongoing effort to tackle crime in this city. Other residents I've spoken to about this program all seem to be in favor of it. I've attended the neighborhood association leaders meeting where this program was discussed in great detail and at the end of that discussion most of the leaders there were favorable to the idea of a drone program here

in our city. Any tool that is within reason that can help SEPD do their jobs more effectively in aiding and protecting the residents in Santa we should be supportive of i believe this drone program program is one of the those tools to do just that please support item 15. thank you mayor council members and city staff and to our fire and police personnel in attendance tonight thank you for all you do and stay safe out there

Thank you, Gina. Okay.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

It appears Tim Rush is no longer here. Victor Mendez, followed by Irma Jaregui and Guadalupe Barragan.

Good evening. I want to address a few items. Item number seven, the quality of life report from the police department. Nothing less than outstanding results. and I'm very pleased with that report. As Ronald Reagan once said, you can't argue with success, and I'm not gonna argue it. It's been a very successful endeavor, and I'm very happy with what's happened. The response from the community, and even the patrol office has been very positive. A few residents have come up to me and say they finally have a flat tire on East First Street without fearing for their life, so thank you. Just two things about the report

that should have been addressed. One, there was no mention about the role of housing in this effort. I think housing has played a very important role in trying to not only for public safety, but overall quality of life. And unfortunately, that didn't get mentioned. No problem. And then what's the cost? I know that's been discussed some time ago about trying to get a price tag on this. And the point is, what's the investment the city's made? I think it's very important to have that as a platform. So, going forward, we understand the magnitude of these actions. And also, it's just good to know. It's good for accountability.

It's good for everybody. It's good for transparency. So, please, I think a rough order of magnitude is very much in order. It's more than a cost. It's an investment that's been made in a community that long needed it. And it's up to this council to be the steward of that investment and take it forward to another level. But nonetheless, a very good job. On the issue of drones, I fully support them. I'm not tied up in this invasion of privacy. I'm 67 years old. My social security number is everywhere. It's in reports. It's in credit reports. It's out there. It's up to you to protect your own data.

I do feel it's very much so, and the timing of Ms. Lopez's presentation to MADD, it could very much help with our traffic management. In terms of traffic, let's face it, Santa Ana is kind of lawless. People come here to speed, to do donuts. Why? Because our police are stretched out. They can't get there responding enough. Maybe drones can help mitigate those issues, make our traffic match more effective, and allow our police to focus on more critical areas like time to respond to missing children. How about that?

Lastly, on number 19 about this hearing, it's all very confusing to me. Completely confused. I'm confused. A couple months ago I proposed that they do an audit of the protest to the police commission. One of the members of the commissioner then took that, asked the special director to prepare a proposal. Nothing went forward from there. Nothing's happened. Now we're talking about a hearing and then asking the commission to hold a hearing. The city doing a report. My comment is let the commission do their job. Let the independent director do their job. Let's get the answers that we need and move forward.

Thank you.

Well, hello. Happy New Year. I haven't been here in a while. Hello, Mayor and council members and staff. Three points, and I'll try to be succinct. Number one, I'm supporting the cameras on the cars for the police officers. I'm totally supporting the drones. It is so efficient. The logic of it should go for everybody. This is not about a police state. This is about efficiency in caring for the citizens, the residents, and everybody. It helps everybody. It helps our officers. It helps our citizens. It helps our everybody to make sure that

we have truth, we have clarity, we have efficiency, it's neutral, it's not looking in my backyard if I'm picking my fruit or not, because I do have a lot of fruit. It is to document exactly what's going on and bring the right type of support or care or things that need to be taken care of at that point in time faster, because what if it's just something simple and we're taking too much of the police officers and support to a place where there's more that's not needed or there's an overreaction, this way we can document. That's number one. And also support the cameras and the drones. And I don't know if you know,

I am the one that started this program that you would have money for our neighborhoods. If you were not, who was, nobody was here. Back then when Cavazos was the mayor, I paid for the police for our parade. It was $900. This is about 10 years ago or so. Because he found out that in other cities, the council members or the city had a pot of money that would be distributed to each council member for their neighborhoods to support events. Thank you, Council Member Peñalosa. He has been enormously supportive and the money as documented that comes to us, because

I do all that, and it's very dedicated to support our communities. Everybody knows our Barter Summer Concert, our movies, our parade. Now it's institutional. I get calls from L.A. to be in the parade because that money is dedicated exclusively for the use of our residents. It's nonprofit. So when it's used for anything else, shame. Absolute shame. So thank you very much for listening to me. Thank you so much for the work that you do. And let's have a fabulous 2026. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

The next three speakers, if you could please line up. Guadalupe Barragan, Maria Corona, and Carla Alvarado.

Yesi Lopez, because you are one of the people who have been a lawyer for us for the ordinance that does not go up more than 3 percent, is that right? Yes? Okay, thank you.

Well, we have a problem in a mobile home complex where we are living in concentration centers

I would like to ask the entire Council, Mayor Valeria Amezcua, it is an urgent call. I know you have the possibilities to help us and all of you.

Thank you very much. residentes estamos pidiendo a este consejo que actúe no más tarde no después de que más familias sean desalojadas sino ahora a proteger nuestros derechos hacer cumplir la ley y poner en alto a la poner de lado a la justicia porque una vez que una comunidad se despierta ya no vamos a to sleep. We are already awake and we are going to get up. We need your support.

When the government does not act against abuse and documented, it does not remain natural, it becomes complicit in everything they are doing to us. There are more than a dozen children who are living without a home. The Kinsley organization is a criminal organization that has taken people out of their homes and they don't let them sell them. We live, as I said, in concentration camps where they take photos of us every day, five photos a day, and if not more, this lady takes photos of us and attacks us, telling us that she is going to bring us to the community to migrate.

You have the answer. West and it's a bit of a good that I thought they could say home. So let's be the I do that.

My name is what a little bit of a gun I've been here before you know my face by now first like to thank a Mister Jonathan Hernandez for helping us in Santa Ana and that you helped us in in this level these damages. Miss Jesse Lopez I I believe that you helped us as well in avoiding increases over 3%. Is that correct? We have an issue with Amobo Home Park. We're living in kind of a concentration compounds or concentration areas. I'm asking the city council, I'm asking Mayor Valeria Mezcua, you can help us. You can do something about it.

Mr. Álvaro Núñez, you are well known around 4th Street and also not forgetting Silvia Vázquez. You all are wonderful people who can help us. We are asking for your support urgently. This is a horrible situation that is taking place that is happening at our mobile home park. Many people are losing or about to lose their homes. We need to act now to avoid the evictions. We are are asking you to protect our rights, to follow the laws, and to ensure justice. When the community awakens, we won't fall back asleep. We are awake now, and we need your support. When government

doesn't act against these injustices, against this abuse, you become complicit. There are over a dozen children who are going to be losing their homes. This foundation or corporation is a big EVICTING PEOPLE. AGAIN, WE'RE LIVING IN CONCENTRATION AREAS HERE. THERE'S THIS PERSON THAT IS TAKING ABOUT FIVE PICTURES EACH DAY OF US AND SAYING THAT SHE'S GOING TO BRING DOWN IMMIGRATION ONTO US. SO WE NEED YOUR, WE NEED ANSWERS. WE NEED YOUR HELP, CITY COUNCIL, ALL OF YOU. THANK YOU.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Maria Corona, Carla Alvarado, Carlos Barragan.

Good evening, Mayor, Council Members. My name is Carla Alvarado. I think that you guys might be familiar with my face. We are hardworking downtown business owners. We have have gone through so many battles and have been so resilient. But we're begging you guys to step in. We're hurting. This out-of-state corporation is not only evicting us, but it's just starting an investigation. Everybody in my community thinks eviction means total forfeiture of our mobile homes. This is all that my kids have. I need help. They evict me. That's not a problem. I'm OK.

I've been trying to sell and they stopped my sales. I want my home to be sold. These are homes that's all we have for our children. They evict us and nothing is being done. I ask that there's been a start in an investigation. The same corporation is out of state and this corporation just sued the city of Santa Ana claiming that there's no eviction. I'm here to hold them accountable and stop this. We can help it. They claim they don't evict because they have us fearmongered. We can't talk. They have a sock in our mouth and we're tired. We're hurting. My kids are hurting. I'm here tonight because of them.

They're using retaliation, coercion, and forced waivers of rights to silence the residents and strip us from our properties. I was evicted under Civil Code Section 1161-2. That statute only removes a person the right to occupy the space. It does not take away ownership of my mobile home, yet corporate and their attorneys are blocking me from selling my home. They allowed me to build the storage, which I paid a fee to them for. Being uneducated has cost us a lot. But I have even offered to remove my storage in ways to make it compliant and be able to sell, which is what the ordinance stands for.

I have offered to do everything required. I even offered to do that. I passed inspection with HCD. I need you guys to hold them accountable. Let me be clear. Using an eviction as leverage to force a homeowner to surrender legal rights is coercion under duress. This is not a voluntary agreement. This is not a fair settlement. It's waiving my rights for mercy is illegal. Santa Ana has rent control and just cost eviction laws specifically to prevent this type of abuse. But those protections are meaningless. unless if out of state corporations are allowed to retaliate against residents who speak up,

organize or file complaints. What is happening in this park is a pattern. Residents who exercise their rights and help others face retaliation. Residents who organize face intimidation. Residents who try to sell homes are blocked. I'm asking this council to act, investigate investigate evictions, investigate interference with lawful mobile home sales and stop the use of evictions.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Carla, your time is up.

Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Maria Corona, Carlos Barragan, Dale Helvig.

Good evening. My name is Carlos Barragan. Some of you know me. We are owners of business stores here on 4th Street, and we have been working day and night. We have been working there for 30 years, trying to do something. And you know what? Now we are facing a ball of rats, a lot of rats, and we are in a situation where we are All that we've done, all our houses, all that, now you know what? They run us. After running us, they don't let us sell our little house, our only heritage. I'm 65 years old. I can't start again. Anyway, go to your house.

See those kids there? One is five months old. He's homeless. All those who have taken their houses, please stop. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. ayuda nosotros hemos ayudado a ustedes también en que porque la biblia dice que el libro de romanos capítulo 13 verso 1 dice sometemos pues a toda autoridad porque las tales fueron puestas por dios y es lo que nosotros hemos hecho someternos pagar taxis pagar licencias estar de la manera más este correcta en este país y sabes que necesitamos en este día ayuda estamos gritando

We're working for help. Help us with those people who know they're like rapacious wolves. Those people, I think, bring Hitler's blood. They want to bury us, they want to kill us, they want to take us out. They don't want to let us sell our houses. After they take us out, they ruin our credit. They say, I'm going to ruin your credit, now you're not going to be able to rent anything else. What is this? What is this about? We need help. We went through COVID-19 and we had a good time in the businesses. We went through the transaction when they put the train. They put us on some streets like it was the Third World War.

We went through it too. Now we are going through the migration thing. And with all of that, we have never complained. We didn't come to ask for help, but now we ask for help. Help us. In those days, there were governments like the government of Nero. You know what? That government didn't care about anything and threw out little kids, children, ladies, gentlemen, all around and let the lions swallow them. There was the other one that also marks the Bible, it's Herod. Herod poked Jacob's head. a Jacob. ¿Y saben qué?

Esos eran los gobiernos que habían antes. Después de eso llega un pilato y vio que no había nada de qué acusar al justo y pidió una ollita con agua y dijo yo me voy a lavar las manos porque este hombre no es digno de nada de que se le haga. Carlos, su tiempo ha terminado. But anyway, they chose Barrabás. Please, don't choose Barrabás. Help the righteous. God bless you.

And now we have thieves coming to our midst to take away our homes. They want to kick us out of our homes. I cannot sell the money that I built over my lifetime. I'm 65 years old. I cannot start over. This child is five months old. He's going to lose his home. He asked everybody to rise up, people who are going to lose their homes. And we need your help. We need help from you. We are here. year, Romans, to ask you for your help, Romans 13.1 says, submit to the authorities because the authorities are put there by God. We pay our taxes. We pay our license fees. We are trying to do right

by the laws of this country, and we need your help. We are crying for help. There are people that are coming. They're like thieves. They're coming to take our stuff. I believe they have something like Hitler blood or something. They don't allow us to sell our homes. They're evicting us and they're saying that if they evict us our credit is going to go to the dumps and we are not going to buy anything else and we are here we need your help we we have not asked for your help we went through COVID-19 we went through the the train coming through our mist looking like World War three coming

through we went through immigration we have not asked for help but we're asking asking for your help now. In years past, there's governments that were mean like Nero's and didn't care about the people. They had kids and women, they threw them to the lions. Herod beheaded Jacob, but then there was Pilate that was there and he could not accuse the just one so he just asked for a water and he washed his hands and the people chose

barabbas and this he said this man is just i cannot convict him they chose barabbas so i'm asking you please do not choose barabbas god bless you mr hellwick if you can hold on a minute please because the families are going to leave after public comments mr city manager Madam City Attorney, please address their matter with them because I have met with them personally. I think they brought it to your attention as well. This is a rent control issue that we cannot address and actually Assemblyman Valencia is involved as well. So I don't want them to leave after public comments and think we didn't hear them because I know that we have

and we've had a discussion. So this is a very serious matter. So can you please share?

Alvaro NuñezItem 3

So whether it be Congressman Luke Correa's office, Assemblyman Valencia's office, your office, or Councilmember Jonathan Hernandez. Our people are working on it. They went out to them with the application. We are working as far as whether it be the Public Law Center or the Rent Control aspects. We are waiting for some information from them. As soon as we can get the information, we can analyze better. So we are taking action as soon as we can get their information.

And is this covered by the Rent Control?

Alvaro NuñezItem 3

I'm not sure. We need to look at it.

Well, Madam City Attorney, the city implemented Rent Control, and you're the expert in this area.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 3

Yeah. Remember that our rent control doesn't apply to all units, and we need to understand and get information from them as to when they got these units, whether they are renters, whether they're owners of these units. We need the information. My understanding is that staff has requested these details from them for some time. As soon as we can get that information, we can evaluate to determine what regulations apply and where we can get them help. But my My understanding is that they have not yet given us the information that we've requested.

Alvaro NuñezItem 3

Right. So as soon as we get that petition, Mayor, we'll ascertain, evaluate, and take action. That's the key for us.

And you'll reach out to them.

Alvaro NuñezItem 3

We'll reach out to them. Perfect.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Dale, go ahead.

Dale Helvig, 36-year resident of Ward 3. Good evening, Mayor, Councilmembers, City staff. staff. I'm hoping we all agree that the safety of every resident is paramount when we make decisions. It is my belief that drone as a first responder system meets this requirement. That is why I support item 15. I'm sure some people will have reservations about using drones within the city, but I feel the necessary precautions have been taken to ensure privacy and to protect the residents. Some key statements from the staff report, quote, the policy provides

provides the framework for the use of drones first responder and patrol drones, including provisions to safeguard the community's constitutional rights and to ensure transparency and accountability. It goes on to say, equipped with real-time information from the drone's video stream, the pilot field-based supervisors and responding officers will be able to coordinate their actions more effectively and gather in direct support of the department's de-escalation strategy. I agree with Congressman Lou Cray in his letter to you when he said, by using drones public safety agencies can better assess the situation before

public safety officers can arrive and many times eliminate the need to use deadly force. And while drones pose legitimate privacy concerns, crafting good policy will help mitigate if not eliminate such concerns. When you can provide legal and non-lethal information to law enforcement prior to the revival of the scene we all win a hammer is a tool used incorrectly it can cause great bodily harm a drone is a tool you have the ability to set the policy and standards for use of the drones to use it to where we can and use it effectively. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Daniel Diaz, Celica Diaz, Gabriella Mendoza.

Hello, City Council. All right, so I couldn't make my public comment in January because I went to go cover the-

One second, please. Madam City Attorney, can you also remind the Council we need to make sure we have quorum at all times? Yes. there's been a lot of sidebar conversations going on while people are speaking we need to always remember that be respectful of those speaking so do we have we have quorum and I want to make sure that we understand that we need to maintain quorum so we can hear from everybody and mayor I was

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 3

going to mention that to you at the appropriate time when the others come back or not here I do think it would be better protocol if people are going to leave the dais that they at least give you notice pass you a note tell the city clerk especially towards the end of our meeting if if people are going to leave and not return, we really need to have that information and the clerk needs to have that information so that she can note in her records when someone has left the meeting permanently.

So I would ask that you repeat that when the council members return and the city manager and if we can be respectful of people that are speaking so we're not having sidebar conversations. We'll do that. Go ahead, Daniel, and start all over, please. Thank you. So I couldn't make my public comment in the January meeting because I wanna go out and cover a protest and then came back and I missed my opportunity to speak. speak, but in that comment I did want to articulate that I did meet with Sylvia and Gaston in December about my public records that have been pending now 270 something days since last May and later on in the year.

These are very important public records requests because they give the public details of what went down in June 2025, that awful month for our community. And it is my understanding as the editor-in-chief of the Santa Nero to get both sides of what happened that entire month, that specific week, whatever protest. And while I could have done better on my part to answering questions or making better public records requests, it's been over half a year already. and I did see an item in this agenda specifically regarding a presentation

for June 2025 or what went down something like that but I don't want to have to file a writ of mandate at the Superior Court across the street to get these records I don't think the city needs another lawsuit on its lap because because I just want the information that's there. And it would be unfair to the council, unfair to the people, the santaneros here, hard-paying tax dollars. It wouldn't be unfair to me, because I don't got all this money to file this.

So I am asking for the city to present its, you know, basically it's, you know, push its deadline for today or tomorrow because I'm kind of getting a little bit impatient. I've waited several months for these records. I've met with them and I can't even ask Natalie Garcia or Paul Eakins other questions that I have about June 2025 because I don't have the records that I've asked for in the first place. So they can't answer questions that you know you know you kind of understand what I'm trying to get to and I don't want to you know implode them with questions again

because I don't know what I have in front of me also you know if we could you know speed that up a little bit because you know it's getting almost to the June anniversary and I don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow next week with ice so you know your community is waiting on you and I'm waiting on you and you know I'm trying to be as fair as possible here but you know I have to do what I got to do so heed this so y'all could you know get it together a little bit but yeah thank you

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Celica Diaz, Gabriela Mendoza, Sylvia Ayala. Mayor before she begins are our

Phil BacerraItem 3

Aren't three colleagues out in the lobby?

I don't know. We have a quorum here and I don't know where they are. And you know, we should all be up here. Nobody should be leaving the dais. We shouldn't be having sidebar conversations, whether it's a city manager or the city attorney, whoever it may be, we need to have everybody listening. So I know we have the, I sit here for five hours sometimes without using the bathroom. So I don't know where they are, Council Member Becerra. So I apologize. If you want to keep on going, please, my apologies. Good evening, with the except to good evening to the ones that are not here.

I'm extremely upset, as they say, for the record, city manager noted. We are talking about an item that the three of them oppose. At least they should give us the respect. I am super sick. I've been having a lot of fever, and I took my time to be here. So out of respect, if they want to go to the restroom, let's all get a break. Then they can take, I don't know how long you'll take, five, ten minutes. But I'm going to begin because my time is going to run out. My name is Celica Diaz and I live in Pacific Park, and I am here today to talk about Item 15 on the agenda.

Based on my research, the use of drones by local police departments is highly beneficial for public safety. Drones help improve response times and increase efficiency. drones can act as first responders after arriving at emergency scenes within minutes they provide a bird's-eye view that helps officers assess situations locate suspects assist with search and rescue using thermal imaging and manage traffic incidents they also far more cut efficient than helicopters when monitoring large events crowds traffic situations and in addition drones allow allow for high resolution documentation of crime scenes, which improves investigations

and helps clear incident scenes more quickly. We don't have to guess about the impact. For example, in March 2020, the Newport Beach Police Department began using drones, and the results speak for themselves. 344 calls reported, 233 incidents where drones arrived before patrol officers, 35 arrests assisted, 126 patrol response reduced canceled. I understand and respect concerns about privacy. However, I believe the benefits to the public safety far outweigh those concerns, especially when proper policing and oversight

are in place. Using drones will speed up response times, improve situational awareness, and ensure a smarter use of public safety resources. Our city's mission is to deliver efficient public services in partnership with our community ensuring public safety I said it again public safety a prosperous economic environment opportunities for youth and a high quality of life for residents this item clearly aligns with that mission because I support measures that protect the safety of the public I strongly support this item and I respectfully ask the seven of you I don't know where the other threes are to vote yes later on they're gonna be

posting in social media information that is not correct so please next time if the public is going to speak they should respect our time thank you

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

gabriella mendoza

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

sylvia ayala

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

wendy baragon on jorge garcia jorge cortez gabriella sylvia wendy jorge and jorge

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

mayor and city council that concludes the speakers that are present we'll move to the zoom speakers SPEAKERS NOW. SPEAKERS ON ZOOM, WHEN UNMUTED PLEASE ANNOUNCE YOUR NAME IN THE WARDER NEIGHBORHOOD THAT YOU RESIDE IN WITHIN THE CITY OF SANTA ANA FOR THE RECORD. SPEAKER NAMED NO ON ITEM 15. PLEASE UNMUTE AND MAKE YOUR COMMENTS.

GOOD EVENING. I'M CALLING TO URGE THE COUNCIL TO VOTE NO ON ITEM 15. DRONES DO NOT KEEP the community safe. This will erode our privacy, encourage racial profiling via AI, and create fear and distrust. Drones are also known to pose safety hazards throughout the country and beyond, frequently crashing into airliners, causing injuries on the ground, and resulting in millions of dollars in property damages. The proposed drones that SAPD wants to approve are manufactured manufactured by Axon and Skydio. They've been used by Israel for its genocide in Gaza as well as by

ICE and by NYPD to surveil protesters. Instead of militarizing law enforcement, we should be using these $700,000 to help out community who are struggling with rent and food or those who need We need legal defense against ICE. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Next speaker, Sarah Marshall.

Hello, I'm here to talk about the Santa Ana Police Department request asking for approval of the $683,000 drone program to assist with police conduct investigations. I pose this question to the community and council. Should the department be awarded with more expensive toys despite how badly they've misbehaved these past couple years? Let's review. Bad behavior number one, misuse of funds. Last September, Councilmember Vasquez identified a $3 million overpayment to SAPOA in 2023, despite them operating at a $609,000 deficit. The following year, they received a $27 million raise.

SAPD also costed the city more than $5 million in liabilities since 2019. According to Councilmember Hernandez, there is no other department in the city costing taxpayers more money in liabilities today. Now this drone program costs a little more than SAPD's approved staffing budget for this year, and is much higher than what our neighboring cities spent on their drones. Can't this money be used for something with less risk and more benefit? Another bad behavior I want to point out is the liability aspect. It brings me to my second point. Why is there no conversation around the protests that happened in June of last year?

Daniel Diaz has informed counsel twice now of his stonewalled request for information regarding police misconduct during these times, particularly June 12th. Myself, my friends, and hundreds of peaceful protesters can attest to the unnecessary escalation and violence of SAPD that night. We are talking potentially millions of dollars in potential lawsuits. More recently, on January 9th, protesters witnessed two men being shot with projectiles in their eye, which left them permanently blind. We continuously see our own police department brutalize the public while not being in compliance with state law for the militarized equipment.

So how can we trust them to abide by the rules with such sensitive technology? Now, my own personal concern with these drones is that they have the ability to survey any airspace in Santa Ana, record and even recognize heat patterns within buildings known as thermal imaging. We need to ask how will the information collected by drones be used and stored? Will this information be shared with other federal law enforcement or agencies like ICE. Another concern is the potential violation of our Fourth Amendment right. Unless there is a strict protocol put in place regarding when and how officers can use these drones,

this opens the door for citizens to be monitored without consent. We've seen these drones programs being used by other cities across the nation with the same marketing slogan, used to fight violent crime. But what we see are actually these drones being deployed to almost every situation. I myself have witnessed this when I was in Irvine last year. On two occasions, I recorded IPD drones surveilling my apartment complex late at night with one being spotted from my living room window. I live in a very safe community in one of the safest cities in the country where no violent crime was to be found on both occasions.

From my perspective, it seems like the goal of SEPD and other police departments is to have as much surveillance and coverage as possible within their cities, as we've seen with the recent addition of flock cameras, adding to this growing collection of surveillance and data on every person in this country. The bigger picture to look at is how this slowly conditions us to be okay with increasing surveillance in our communities and the possibility of this being weaponized against citizens if misused.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Ms. Sarah, your time is up. Next speaker.

Ms. I'm sorry, Madam Clerk. Can you make sure that's being typed up correctly? I don't think she mentioned the Bible at all. So we just want to make sure it's being typed up correctly, please. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Ms. I'll have them look into that. Next speaker. Speaker on Zoom, Tanya Navarro, please unmute.

Hi, hello, can you hear me?

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Yes, please go ahead.

Okay. Good evening, City Council. My name is Tanya Navarro and I'm with CHSPA. And to the community listening tonight, many of you have been told that the Drone First Responder Program will make you safer, that it will help in emergencies and that it's just another tool, but what's being proposed goes far beyond that. Every camera feeds into the same machine. To those of you who vote to pass this program, you would have laid the groundwork for ICE's proposed surveillance center here in Santa Ana. As a public servant, it's your job to find out how this can be harmful to the public and not just take the word of the police department.

This proposal is reckless, both for public safety and fiscally. This program will cost our city over $600,000 in the coming year. Even if a grant covers the start, the history shows that these programs aren't a one-time purchase. They always expand. And once the infrastructure is built, the public pays the bill moving forward, locking us into an expensive and harmful surveillance program that we didn't want to begin with. Many of the commenters before me said that they thought this could be a good tool as long as there's good policy along with it. But the language in this policy is extremely vague and irresponsible.

Many of the sections use language to authorize drone support court like any incident where UAS will provide enhanced safety. That does not, that's undefined. That language gives police broad latitude to decide when and where drones fly, including over protests, public gathering, and community events. This is exactly how tools get justified for emergencies and then become normalized in everyday surveillance. Other states have taken a different approach. In Illinois, the Freedom for Drone Surveillance Act prohibits drone use by default unless it fits within narrow, clearly defined exceptions that burden the justification.

The privacy section is extremely weak. Reasonable expectation of privacy and privacy precautions has nothing, there's nothing in this policy for when data is deleted, retained, reviewed, and or shared across systems. Senate Anna cannot...

All right, hello?

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Tanya?

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Hi, hello? Yes. Are you continuing your comments? You have about 30 seconds remaining.

Oh, yes. Oh, 30 seconds. Okay. So the privacy section is incredibly weak. Without operational definitions, there is no clear policy on inadvertent recording when footage of uninvolved people is captured. There's no firm rules on whether that data is deleted, retained, reviewed later, or shared across systems and who this data is shared with. Oversight is also missing. Program review happens internally with an annual report to the police chief, not to the council, not to the public, not to the Police Oversight Commission. Future expansion, software upgrades, and new analytics do not clearly require public approval.

There's no requirement for the public flight logs or deployment transparency.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Tanya, your time is up.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Next speaker, Jair.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Please unmute and make your comments.

Greetings. Can you hear me?

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Yes.

Okay, great. Greetings, everybody. everybody. I'm just speaking here today to basically ask the council members to vote against item 15. Santana does not need drones. It doesn't. What it needs is more resources for the people, not more surveillance for the people. I believe the person before me, Tanya, made some really good points in assessing in specific details the problems with this this program. And so one of the things that I want to also share is that, yeah, there's like this, this idea around safety and security and we need it and it's going to stop this. It's going to stop

that. You know, I say this with complete respect. It's not going to stop drunk drivers. It's not going to stop murder. It's not going to stop people from being unhoused. it's not going to go after those corporations that are exploiting santaneros in their mobile homes that's crime and the and the drones are not going to stop that and if this is being done in the name of freedom or in the name of security at the expense of freedom i should say then it's not

the way because this is the exact argument that people who are so willing to give up their freedom

use. It's the same thing with the ICE agents. It's the same rhetoric. It's like, well, we're going to put out, we're going to increase the budget for ICE because we're going to go after the criminals. We're going to reduce crime. It's going to help with crime. It's not doing that. It's expanded. It's gone more powerful. So we can see the parallels between security and sacrificing freedom, sacrificing privacy. So it's really actually disappointing to see some local community members that support this program. I want to really implore the council members

to have some foresight when you're voting for this. I want to ask you to have some foresight because you have to think coherently, not just within the next year or this year or this election cycle. You need to think about seven years, 14, 15 years from now. Decisions are connected. And this, though it may seem like it's a short-term benefit, which it's not, though it may seem like that, it's going to come at the cost of the people. because I believe there's if I'm not mistaken there's details around these drones are being ran by AI right and there's research that shows that AI is

racist just by its programmers right look it up look it up so does that mean that in terms of crime what's what's gonna be labeled as a crime right are the Florida those are the people that are selling flowers on the street your Your time is up.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Next speaker, Graciela Lepe.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Please unmute.

Good evening. I am speaking on the drones item as well, and I would urge members to vote no.

Queremos menos gobierno y mas unidad comunitaria porque solo nosotros nos mantenemos seguros y a salvo. I do not want even more surveillance in Santana. We already have too much money invested in technology invading our privacy and even those who spoke in favor of this said that there is a risk in in our privacy.

Secondly, in my research, the company is... I saw that Axon Enterprise, their stock market shares are very low, so they are trying to see who who hires them, obviously.

It's all about money, it seems, in the government. and instead of investing so much money in that, we should invest in youth, the families that are helpless right now, and in the community relationships between Santa Ana PD and the residents, because we don't trust them, and there are ways to educate them to them so that they can do their job better and we could also invest this money

teaching these officers to protect residents against criminals working with ice and I think that is what other cities have done, other states, so we also need también educación cívica y como navegar el sitio web en sobre estas juntas como hacer citas con ustedes los miembros y con la alcaldesa

como navegar la agenda de estas juntas les agradecería eso y muchas cosas más que podría ser en vez de de votar en este drones que hace first responder que

I got a flyer today stating let's let council know you support drones as a first response. And it was very biased because it didn't say any negative things about this bill or this item. So I don't know if one of you all sent it or one of my neighbors. But it doesn't say who it's from. So I really don't appreciate this kind of propaganda. If you talk about both sides, I understand maybe. But AI is also really bad for the environment.

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

Graciela, your time is up.

A lot like Israel.

We need to have less government. That's going to make us safer. We don't want more people watching. The technology is, there are concerns with privacy. And some people even spoke about the risk to privacy with these. Number two, we need to have a look at this company. In my research, I looked at this company, Axion, and their stock seems to be low or seems to be down. So maybe they want us to hire them so that they can earn more money. It's all about the money.

Also, we need to invest this money instead in the youth, the families that are house-deprived, and the community resource community relationships especially between Santa Ana PD and the residents because we don't trust the police we need to educate these officers to do a better job we need to invest and teach the officers to protect the residents against criminals and against ICE and they are doing this in other cities and other states as well so

we need to have a civic education we need to teach people how to use the city website to make appointments with you the City Council members with you mayor so that we can have meetings and teach people how to read and use the meeting agenda so we need to use the money to use for all these points instead of voting for drones as first responders. Mayor and City Council that

Jennifer L. HallItem 3

concludes the public speakers in the queue and we begin. Thank you Madam City

Clerk. Madam City Attorney did you want to share something over again? Councilman

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 3

Penalosa shared with me that he's using the right. Oh here he comes. Go ahead Madam City Attorney. Thank you Mayor. Mayor and Councilmembers I just want to to remind you that when you leave the dais, it would be a nice courtesy to let either the mayor know or to let our city clerk know that you're going to leave just so that we know we have a quorum. Also, at the end of the meeting, we've noticed that council members are leaving the meeting and are not returning at all. And our city clerk needs to make sure that her minutes reflect those of you that are present. We did have an appeal matter

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 3

scheduled for tonight. That appeal would have required you all to be here to listen to the full presentation that item may not will not go forward this evening but it's just a good reminder when you leave to please let the mayor know as a courtesy or the city clerk especially if you think

that we're going to lose a quorum thank you madam city attorney consent calendar items 4 through 17 are before us council members will announce your items that you would be abstaining from due to

Alvaro NuñezItem 4

conflict mayor for me yes mr city and item 16 we found a grammatical error and part of the bylaws I just want to make sure we correct that.

Alvaro NuñezItem 4

Item 16 in the bylaws, page 105, where it says Article I, Section 4, vacancy of office. We want to add vacancy of office of chair or vice chair so it's easily understandable.

Alvaro NuñezItem 4

And then on Section 5, right below, you have two does. I had to correct and find that one. Duh duh. Right below section five, same thing, article one, section five, page 105, which says recording secretary, you have two duhs.

Alvaro NuñezItem 4

Making sure we reimburse ourselves publicly that we make a mistake.

Is that it, Mr. City Manager?

Alvaro NuñezItem 4

Yes, Mayor, thank you.

Thank you. All right, let me start again. items 4 through 17 are before us. Councilmembers please announce any items that you will be abstaining from due to conflict if there are any requests to pull an item from the consent calendar for further discussion. Councilman Vasquez please.

Benjamin VazquezItem 4

I'll pull item 15 please.

Thank you. Councilmember Lopez.

Jessie LopezItem 4

Item 8 please.

Thank you.

Councilman Hernandez. Councilmember Herndez?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

No items to pull. I'll make a motion to move the consent calendar. I'll second.

Thank you. Councilmember Becerra?

Phil BacerraItem 4

No items.

Thank you. Councilmember Phan?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 4

Nothing.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem Penalosa?

David PenalozaItem 4

No items, Mayor.

Thank you. Adams City Clerk? There's a motion and a second? Yes. I'm prepared to vote, please.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Motion by Councilmember Hernandez, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Penalosa to approve consent calendar items 4 through 17 with the exceptions of items 8 and 15 which have been pulled for separate discussion and consideration but as seven eyes no nays motion carries and that includes the amendments to item 16 of the police commission bylaws article 1 sections 4 and 5 as stated by the city manager

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

motion carries can I include on the motion to turn up the air because it's very cold in here I'm just joking about that madam work is the appointed member

I'm a member present to administer the O2 for the Emilio Ramirez for the Rental Housing Board. Okay, yes. Emilio Ramirez, if you could please come forward.

aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States

and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California, that I take this obligation freely

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

without any mental reservation for a purpose of evasion, for a purpose of evasion, that I will well and faithfully discharge,

and that I will will and faithfully discharge,

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

the duties upon which I am about to enter.

The duties upon which I am about to enter. Thank you. So moved.

Congratulations. All right.

Madam City Clerk, it's all yours.

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

Yes, Mayor and City Council, the first pulled item is item eight, pulled by Councilmember Lopez.

Jessie LopezItem 4

Thank you, Clark. I just wanted to thank the department for bringing this forward. I know you guys have been working on this. And I think to be clear, right, for me, the way I understand this is this is more of a, like an early step. It's not necessarily saying that tonight we're going to give authorization for the purchasing, executing a contract to go out and buy the cameras for the car. Correct? Do I understand that correctly?

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

That is correct. That's the Chief of Police providing an update.

Jessie LopezItem 5

Yeah, thank you. And I say that because again, I think that one of the things that I got from the staff report is essentially this understanding that the digital infrastructure, right, is something that I think we all agree still needs to be invested in and figured out. So I appreciate the update. I appreciate that acknowledgement, which is important. staff report is important and also I think reading the staff report it's clear that this is going to be way beyond financially what we possibly discussed so I think that on my end whatever comes back in the future it would be great for the

Jessie LopezItem 5

public to know the total cost that includes personnel since that was something that was mentioned I think potentially as a concern in the staff report and so I think if hopefully if if this site moves forward and it does come back, you know, having it come back with clear policy guidelines because we don't necessarily have that again to the point of the digital infrastructure not being built out to the extent that we need it to be. And so, you know, just helping to address questions around retention, access, public release, which is, I think, a big question here. And so those are some of the things

Jessie LopezItem 5

that I would like to see addressed. But just overall, thank you for the work that you're doing.

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

Thank you, Council Member.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

To receive and file. Go ahead. If we could still have a motion and second to receive and file. I'll make a motion.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

I'll second with a comment.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Go ahead, Councilman Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I want to thank the City Manager's Office as well as the Police Department for bringing this item back. I was very happy with the report. I was very pleased to learn that by 2016, 69% of police agencies were using in-car cameras. So I do think that the inclusion of in-car cameras will not only help establish more trust with the city, but it will put our police department in a position where they can develop policies and a framework to, you know, not only prioritize safety for their officers, but also safety for anybody who's being transported to a jail or who is being investigated.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

and best practices. And I think that's good for Santa Ana and it's good for Santa Ana PD. So I'm supportive of this item. Thank you.

Benjamin VazquezItem 5

Council Member Vasquez, please. Thank you. I'm equally supportive of this item. And whenever we get new technology and cameras, I'd like to see it be common practice that we go through the police oversight so they can go through it, create the policies and boundaries of how we use this new technology. Thank you.

Council Member Phan. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Thank you, Mayor. So my apologies for missing that first part. I know this is a receiving file, so what's the next step?

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

So I think I work with the police department to develop the policies as Council Member Lopez itemized. And the reality is if we are going to be looking to implement this part of the technology, this is a discussion that we should probably have during the budget component as he provided towards the end of the report, an itemized component, what would it take to get 95 vehicles? I'm sure it won't happen in a year, but we can start implementing that and putting that into the part of our process. And more than likely, generally speaking, we'll probably follow the same policy as the

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

body cameras.

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

Body work cameras. So we'll make sure it's 100 times easy. And again, you have a police chief that's very supportive of this item.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Thank you. And I guess what I wanted to clarify just based on the recommended approval or excuse me, recommended items. So the in-car cameras would be Axon, right? The same ones for the body worn cameras?

Chief.

Thank you, Council Member, for the question. More than likely it would be, but obviously we would have to put it out to bid or see see what else is out there, and then we would come back with the recommended product.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Okay. And I'm sorry, I'm just trying to understand a little bit more before we vote on this.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

These cameras, if they're on a police vehicle and let's say the sirens go on, the cameras ostensibly would turn on even if the person is, say, is in someone's driveway, in front of their house, if the garage door is open, something like that, right? Right, just pretty similar with a body worn camera or anything like that?

That is correct, Councilmember. And that can be adjusted based on the policy implementation and usage of the in-car cameras on when they turn on, when they automatically deploy, like when the light bar goes on, or other guardrails or parameters that we might put in place.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Okay, that's very helpful. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Councilmember Lopez.

Jessie LopezItem 5

Yeah, just quickly, are we going out to an RFP for this, or is this just sole source?

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

We haven't determined that. I think that's the whole idea was to receive and file rights. So, we're providing the information. You can do an evaluation. If during the budget study component, we feel that this is something we want to invest in as a city council, obviously, then we would continue that. Once approved by the city council, the budgetary aspects, that we would do the sole source, whatever's easier, or depending on the amount and the process we have within the city, go out to bid.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Got it, thank you. Council Member Fan. Thank you, thank you so much for that question, Council Member Lopez, and actually before this item comes back, if you're preparing it, I think it would be very helpful for me, given that we already use Axon for the body-worn cameras and have talked to them about other potential items, that we see what they might be able to bundle for us

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

if there is a sole source discussion thank you that's an option we're thinking about yes all

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

right thank you go ahead madam quirk uh motion by mayor mezcua seconded by councilmember hernandez to receive and file the information in the in-car cameras at the santa ana police department report

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

the vote system is open

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Council Member Phan.

Waiting for your vote, Council Member.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

The vote is seven ayes, no nays. Motion carries.

Madam Clerk, you can just do a roll call. It's easier. Okay. Next item, please.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Next item is item 15, pulled by Council Member Vasquez.

Can we have the presentation, Mr. City Manager, please?

Yes. Thank you. Thank you.

Alvaro NuñezItem 5

You ready, Chief? Yes, we do. Senator Police Chief Robert Rodriguez will assist with that.

Go ahead, Chief.

Yes, good evening, Mayor and City Council members. So what I have in front of me here, I'm going to present the unmanned aerial systems drones purchase. Basically, with this presentation, we'll explain what the program is, what it is not, and how it is regulated or governed and potentially answer a lot of the questions that were asked during public comment or statements. So the purpose of the UAS program is to develop a program that enhances the department service while protecting the community's constitutional rights. It improves

response times, it may reduce and it will reduce the air support costs associated with the Orange County Sheriff's Department helicopter contract. That contract currently right now sits about approximately half a million dollars a year. We expect to see a significant cut in that contract from the Sheriff's Department. It will provide responding officers with valuable information before they arrive on scene, which enhances community and officer safety. safety. It will support search and rescue disaster response also. So basically this

is about better information earlier. It is not an expanded enforcement authority. So all it does, it provides information at a faster rate to officers responding to a call for service. So what is a police drone is? The drone is a real-time observation tool used for specific defined incidents operated by trained personnel. What a drone is not, it is not a surveillance program. It does not have

facial recognition. It does not continuously record the public and it is not armed.

This addresses a lot of the common misconceptions about a drone program.

Some of the authorized uses include crimes in progress or call for service, service, missing or at risk youth, armed or barricaded subjects, vehicle or foot pursuits, illegal fireworks, search and rescue, fire disaster and hazardous incidents, large scale incidents requiring an aerial overview. Every use must meet policy criteria. There is no discretionary roaming. So basically every deployment must meet policy criteria. Like I mentioned, no discretionary roaming.

When are drones not used? They are not used for proactive patrol, meaning they don't go out there mission creeping, just looking to capture the activity of community members. They are not used for immigration enforcement. enforcement. They are also not used for code enforcement, so they cannot be used to fly over someone's residence and see if there's an ADU or there's no ADU or whatnot. They cannot be used for code enforcement purposes either. They cannot be used for crowd surveillance

without a qualifying public safety threat. So how does a program work? The Sky Studio The Sky Studio X10 is a drone as a first responder. It is launched from a fixed location. Live video is monitored by trained personnel. Officers responding to a call for service receive real-time information. The drone is recovered and powered down after an incident. There's also the Sky Studio R10 drone. that's a smaller drone and it's used by an officer or drone trained operator.

It's mainly used for indoor scanning before an officer enters a structure, deploys directly from a patrol vehicle or at the scene of a radio call.

So this will show a quick video of how the drone first responder works.

and use augmented reality overlays for precise visual orientation. Manage your fleet, upload evidence, and build community trust. It's all at your command.

To be able to pre-position drones on top of what's at police stations, and those drones being able to remotely deploy and operate beyond visual line of sight for drone operations is the game changer.

We want drones and docks all over the city of Oklahoma that can respond to a call, can respond to an officer, and give them eyes in the sky before they even arrive on scene. Seeing what the dock for X-10 can do up here, I think we're one step closer to making that a reality. You can say, hey, I'm done. You can hope for China Home, with a little icon there. That's awesome. With Skydio, we've had an incredible opportunity for us to see the new docks in action and be able to work hand-in-hand with the engineers to understand why we do things certain ways so they can better understand our problems and how to solve them.

The Skydio X10 dock is definitely the future for drones from our perspective. Skydio was able to deliver on that technology.

We have two of them up here being launched remotely and it's working. You know, there's over 40 mile per hour winds, it's over 100 degrees, and it's been able to work in situations where we never dreamed we'd be able to use a drone.

The next drone, also short video, is the ARC-10. That's the one that's deployed by an individual person. person.

I want onboard lights built in. I don't want to have to buy accessories. I don't want to have to MacGyver things together.

Not every patrol officer has the time or the ability or the skill level to go out there and learn how to fly an FPV drone.

You could perch something like that on a countertop and start a negotiation through the drone.

The ability to communicate back and forth with the suspect is a big deal. Down on the ground, hands out where I can see them. One bump on the wall and your lighting's gone, and then it might lose GPS, so you might not even be able to get it back. So durability is a big deal.

Having a clear signal is critical because if I can soft search the house and then relay relay back to that team that's going to come in, then they know what to expect in real time and can focus on the scene.

If our operators don't have a live stream of the video, then we're dependent on using just the radio and again, it's always better to see what you're going to face or the structure you're going to enter rather than hear a description over the radio.

If we had remote operations in an indoor drone, we could have someone simply turn it on and then pass off control to remote pilots and support the tactical teams in real time. I envision being able to see all of my fleet drones in one platform. If you had one platform that flew a couple of different drones, that makes training and teaching so much easier. I don't like to necessarily just say that it's only for indoor use. The same drone that could be used for indoor can also be used for confined spaces. When I think of close proximity drones, I of course think of the form factor

to be able to fit into a multitude of confined spaces. It should be capable enough for most scenarios because the primary goal is safety. Success for us is that everybody that deployed on the mission goes home safely. The equipment can be replaced, but people just can't be replaced. We're there to protect the community, so the safer we can do it and with more tools, the better.

We need... So some of the privacy and safeguards. Once again, there's no facial recognition technology. There's no biometric databases. There's no retention without evidentiary value. There's audit logs for all deployments and those audit logs are forward facing on a PD website or on a city website. And there's also access limited to authorized personnel. All these privacy and safeguards are consistent with our current body-worn camera systems that we have right now.

This slide shows what the audit log looks like in a public portal. This is LAPD's actual one of their audit logs, and there's actually a link on there. And you can go and look at every deployment or use of the drone by LAPD. It'll tell you the location, time, and it'll give you a route of where the drone flew.

So right now the current state of the county, agencies with an OC that utilize drones as a first responder are Newport Beach, Brea, Huntington Beach, and Irvine. These are agencies that use drones as a first responder. That doesn't mean there's not other agencies that own drones that are deployed by a drone pilot. pilot. Four agencies in Orange County that do not have an in-house drone capability are Los Alamitos, Cypress, La Palma, and Santa Ana.

Some of the outcomes from the implementation of drone use, Ontario PD responded to 160 calls for service per week. Arrived first 80% of the time. 40% of those calls were cleared via drone without an officer response.

Lakewood, Colorado PD, three-month period. DFR responded to 640 calls for service, arrived first 77% of the time. 40% of those calls were cleared via drone without officer response. Chula Vista PD. DFR responded to 24,090 calls for service since 2015. DFR arrived first 70% of the time. 20% of the calls cleared via drone without officer response. No, none of these agencies listed above have received community complaints regarding their drone uses.

Drones in San Adam. Beginning in 2020, drones were provided by outside assisting agencies. Orange County Sheriff's Department, Irvine PD, Tustin, Garden Grove, Anaheim, Orange County District Attorney's Office. Notable incidents were the civil unrest of 2020. November 21, standoff with a stolen big rig on the 55 freeway. Irvine drone utilized to monitor suspect's actions. February 23rd, a drone was used to find a suspect inside of a tunnel after a vehicle pursuit and that started off as a pursuit, ended up as being a search, a rescue actually of that person from the tunnel.

August 2023, suspect armed with a handgun at 17th and Tustin. Drone overhead provided valuable intel for the tactical planning and the successful surrender of the suspect after 11 hours. And most recently on January 2026, drone utilized to monitor the protests at 34 Civic Center. Based on drone footage, no SAPD were deployed to the protest.

So what we're asking today is for the approval of three Skydio X10s with docking stations. Each dock will be strategically located throughout the city to provide maximum coverage. coverage. Obviously those will be city buildings such as fire stations. Because the city owns the buildings and their strategic locations, the plans to utilize fire stations as rooftops to house the docking stations. Remote pilots will be housed at the police administrative building in the room next to our communications center. Two Skydio R10 drones, one will be patrol based while the others will be reserved for the special weapons and tactics team.

12 by 12 inch drone capable of flying in confined exterior or inter interior spaces

so between august 2025 and january 2026 the pd has attended eight committee meetings where drones were a topic of discussion august 21 2025 artesia pilar neighborhood august 31 2025 25, Committee Meeting at 1518 North French Street. September 20, 2025, Coffee with the Mayor McDonald's, 1011 East 17th Street. September 26, 2025, Meeting at 249 North Bush Street. October 1, 2025, Coffee with the Cop Norms on 17th Street. October 22, 2025, Saddleback View Zoo and Neighborhood Association Meeting.

meeting, November 2025 comm link meeting, January 9, 2025 G7 meeting. And what's not on here, I believe it was in August also of 2025 was police oversight.

Some of the community response we received that residents are interested in the responsible and transparent use of drone technology. They did express some concerns, privacy, mission creep, capture and storage of data, transparency, and accountability, which we addressed those concerns within Policy 606.

So next steps are to obtain council approval for the purchase, installation of the docking Station's selection of pilots, pilot training, obtain FAA, which is beyond view line of site waiver, full program implementation.

And I am ready to answer any questions you may have. »» Thank you, Chief. So if the Council would like to speak, please raise your mic. We'll go around three times, three minutes. I know there's a lot of, there may be a lot of questions, so I want to be sure to get them all answered. Councillor, Councilman Vasquez, please.

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

Hello, Chief. That was a great presentation. And I appreciate all the work and the policy built around it. And I just have a, did the Police Oversight Commission have input to create policy for this?

They provided comment. At this point, the policy is not finalized. So we are only presenting the purchase of the drones. and we welcome any input regarding the policy, but a policy will be in place before the implementation if this item passes and the use of drones.

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

Here's why I'm asking. I would like it to be whenever we have new technology that we do have common practice to go through the police oversight and see the boundaries of how we use this new technology and they help create the policy and bring it to us when it's done.

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

I'm just worried about how it would be used in rallies or protests. We did use it last June. We borrowed some on Bristol and Ettinger.

Yes.

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

So I'm just worried about how we use it in these events. And the public's worried. So what I want to see is a process where the public feels comfortable that this is a process. This has gone through a process using the police oversight, a civilian body to look at it that specializes in this and go through a process. The other thing that worried me is that allegedly Axon Enterprise drones have been used in Gaza and supported genocide. And I would like to be that investigated. And if that's to be true, I'd rather we use another vendor and stop using Axon in Santa Ana. I just kind of support it.

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

but if there's another vendor after it's gone through police oversight, I'll be happy to support.

Mayor Pro Tem.

David PenalozaItem 15

Thank you, Mayor Misku and thank you Chief Rodriguez for the presentation. Very insightful and just good information that you presented.

David PenalozaItem 15

I was listening to Council Member Vasquez's comments and I appreciate them. However, I would like to also remind my colleagues and city staff that we're the policy makers up here and we're the ones that are creating policy and the Police Oversight Commission is at oversight to have oversight over policy that's enacted by us and make sure that our police department acts accordingly to that policy that we create. So I would just want to reemphasize that, that the other day the bug stops here and we're the overseeing body that creates this policy.

David PenalozaItem 15

And as far as like vendors, I'm okay with accident. I mean, if we sit here and say, you know, ICE agents use Ford vehicles, it's like, are we going to ban Ford vehicles from the city? you know it's it's so it's about looking at the at the positive um and pros that this drone program could do i know that in stanton just last summer something a big topic of conversation in the city is the firework usage and and how uh bad the firework and it's coming up it's starting in the next couple months we're going to see it every year endless endless emails and complaints complaints and phone calls and

David PenalozaItem 15

just about how bad the firework problem is here in the city. This is a tool that we could potentially use to try to address it. The same way city of Stanton. I hope we're not billing residents $500,000 bills. That's not what I'm saying. But those $1,000 fines that we

David PenalozaItem 15

advertise, I should see a lot of these if we hopefully go down this route. As far as the question I had for operationally for the range how you know let's say there's a pursuit and you're using the drones to to support you know our police officers in in following a car. Where does is it. I don't think it's unlimited range correct.

That's correct. Correct, Council Member. For a vehicle pursued, we will still use the primary, the helicopter. A lot of our services from the police helicopter from Duke are obligated by, not by our agreement, our contractual agreement, but services from the county to municipalities, which include vehicle pursuits or certain crimes in progress. What we pay for our contract is all the extra additional incidents, and that's where we would minimize costs from the contract.

David PenalozaItem 15

Okay. Because I was trying, is it, would the, you know, and I guess these are all hypotheticals, would the drone be the first on scene? Will it be called by an officer who's in pursuit, saying, hey, I need drone support, or I need... So I guess that's all operational, right? and TBD for a lot of those, correct?

Yes, but it does have the capability if the pursuit goes into a foot pursuit that the officer can request the drone through his Axon body-worn camera and the drone will follow the officer, above the officer.

David PenalozaItem 15

Okay, thank you for that. The only other comment and question I had was on the same conversation of federal enforcement enforcement in our city that none of us up here are supportive of. Last summer, when we reached out to the federal government for basically asking them to let us know when immigration enforcement was going to be in our city and we were told through through the various channels that they would not do that and give us the heads up, which is something that we were all in support of up here would we be able to use the this drone system to hey you know what somebody

David PenalozaItem 15

reached out to us and and and a community watcher and said hey there are federal uh immigration agents terrorizing our community on bristol and ettinger can our police department use these drones would we be able to to follow and basically let the community uh let them be aware of where this federal enforcement is taking place, given that that was the goal of when we were trying to get this information from the federal government and it wasn't happening. Is that something that we could do?

I think that would fall something along the lines of interfering with our federal agents. And we wouldn't be able to deploy drones or use drones to monitor activity just the same when we don't want to monitor the community. It'd be the same thing as monitoring federal agents.

David PenalozaItem 15

But it wouldn't be interfering, it'd be basically just what we were hoping that the federal government could provide to us as information.

David PenalozaItem 15

We would just be saying, hey, FYI, there's, like we do with a DUI checkpoint, you know, when the police department advertise, which I'm very supportive of seeing DUI checkpoints throughout our city.

David PenalozaItem 15

But just want to make that clear, you know, I would hope that we could say, hey, there's federal immigration enforcement happening in this area of town you know just there's just things that other ways that I could see us possibly using this drone technology which I'm very supportive of and just had to ask those questions to see if there was any possibility there I think the guard

rails prevent us from using that but I'll defer to our city attorney more from a legal perspective?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 15

I think as we develop the policy, we can work with the department just to make sure that fully complies. We won't know until we actually get done. Can you speak loudly, Chairman?

I'm sorry. I usually don't have a problem with that.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 15

But yeah, I just said as the police department goes forward in developing the policy, we'll work closely with them to address any of the questions or issues.

David PenalozaItem 15

Okay. Thank you. That would be helpful. Thank you, Madam City Attorney. Thank you, Police Chief Rodriguez. Very supportive of this. I will happily make a motion to approve this.

I'll second your motion. Madam City Attorney, let me go back to you, please. So I hear what the Chief is saying, and the request that Councilman Panalosa is asking about the use with ICE. I think we've had this discussion about monitoring ICE. We see in the community people that are following them, or they say they're interfering, they end up getting arrested and whatnot. So where do we start as a city when they, and then Chief, thank you for being honest about, we cannot be interfering with their work. and i i'd love to follow them around so where does that leave us as a city

no should i so i should in our city community starts coming here and saying hey we want you to use that drone that was approved to follow and stop ice because we all want that so what is what

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 15

is the response madam city attorney well i mean i think when we have that policy that policy is going to be limited to using those drones to assist the police department when they receive receive a call for service, not to go out and do proactive things. That's what I heard the Chief just say, is that these tools are going to be primarily used by the Police Department in response to direct calls for service. That's going to be their priority. And as you see, we've only got two. And then we have two of the smaller ones, one of which is going to be allocated directly to a certain purpose.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 15

So even if we wanted to, I don't believe that you're going to have the equipment to do such a large scale.

Thank you Madam City Attorney. So Chief, one of the drones will be a first responder and the other drone will be a portable, is that correct? Three are our drone as a first responder and then two are portable. I'm sorry, three will be first responders? Yes. Okay. And two are portable. Can you explain the difference? I'm sorry, I don't know if you can. Yes, so the three drones as first responder are placed strategically throughout the city. It's integrated into our CAD system on our calls for service. When a call for service comes in, the drone will deploy and there will be a drone pilot within our communication center who will

monitor the drone and provide real-time information to our officers before they arrive to the call for service or even while they're at the call for service. The other two drones are smaller in size. They can be deployed, be carried from a patrol vehicle and can be deployed from a patrol vehicle in small confined spaces or inside a structure or building. And another, the second handheld drone will be maintained with the Special Weapons and Tactics his team for the same purpose so an example chief let's say a family calls 9-1-1 um my son's inside

not my son she's an example he's probably watching at home so don't use me um you know my son's inside he's having a mental health crisis he's going to hurt us they all get out of the residence so instead of sending in santa and police officers you can actually tell me if i'm you can actually send the drone in is that correct that's correct ma'am and what does the drone do sir well the the drone can provide real-time information where this individuals located within the residence if we even need to engage or if we can communicate or if there's other people in the house that we

need to evacuate thank you um this is truly modern policing business right this is what we want to do for our city um so talk a little bit about mission creep i i see that you put it in here and thank you for policy section 606.7 the prohibited use um and i want the community to be sure they understand what mission creep is.

So mission creep is referred to as proactive or roaming around looking for activities to monitor or looking for behaviors or looking for waiting for crime to occur or putting a drone in an in an advantage position where technically an officer would not have access to such as I think looking through a window you know the question has been posed does a person an officer looking through a window does a drone have the same constitutional limitations and I would say

that the drone actually has more rigid constitutional restrictions because the drone that the drone should not be manipulated to where it can view anyone's inside their house through a window where an officer would not have access from a public sidewalk.

Unless you're going in on a very serious call. Exactly. Unless there's a call for service, if we have a right to be there and a reason to be there. And thank you, because I just wanted to be clear on that, because I know I've heard and I hear from people, I read things, and then the emails that we received, a lot of emails for support of the drone. So thank you to everybody who sent in the email supporting the drone. But there were also some about, and a gentleman spoke tonight about surveillance. And so that, what you, exactly what you said about the mission creep. The drone will not be, will not be

flying around the city to say, oh look, we're gonna go check out this neighborhood because we know it's an active gang neighborhood. Or we're gonna go check out this neighborhood because of A, B, and C. But if a call comes out that there is, let's say, a gang fight at a particular park, Could you send out the drone? Yes, we can, especially if it's in a crowd area. We can send a drone, see who the agitator primary aggressors are. And if the fight has de-escalated, we can wait for that person to remove himself from the crowd or herself from the crowd. And then we can make contact once the confrontation has concluded.

Or if we need to respond immediately, we'll respond immediately. Thank you. And I know Mayor Pro Tem also asked this question, but I want to be really clear because we hear sometimes what we want to hear and there's going to be that 30-second video on social media and you know, from somebody who's watching or who's present. Let me be really clear on my question. Will the drone or Santa Ana PD be releasing any information to ICE? or sharing any video information with ice so the city nor the department will

be sharing any information with dice with a drone the city or the department owns 100% of the data and the video these what I hear you saying is the city owns 100% of the data from the drones yes the drone is only the the vehicle in which we capture the data but the data belongs to us and it's stored in the same uh system that our body worn camera so all it is is it is an extension of the body-worn camera thank you so much madam city attorney i see you looking at me like i have something to say you know you're just

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 15

saying absolutely i mean we have to comply with with sb54 of the california values act we have told the public over and over and over again that we absolutely comply with it um and you know the only exception to the California Values Act is if the federal government with a lawful order, subpoena or something of that nature were to request documents. That would be the only exception but there would be absolute compliance with SB 54. And if that occurs Madam City Attorney what do you do? We would look at that to evaluate it to make sure that it's lawful and we would

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 15

determine whether we'd have to comply or not. We would be evaluating to the council correct? Absolutely. We evaluate all subpoenas when they come to us just to make sure that they're legitimate, that we can comply and that we're not violating any other laws or personnel privacy.

Thank you. I just wanted to clarify. Thank you, Chief, very much. And I'll come back. Thank you. Council Member Phan?

Oh, Councilman Hernandez, go ahead and then we'll go to Council Member Phan. Thank you.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

Thank you, Madam Mayor. And thank you, Police Chief Rodriguez, for the presentation. A couple of questions, sir. Could you tell me what is the length of time that these drones are up in the air for before they have to drive back to a dock?

It depends on the call for service, but they go up directly to the call for service. Once a call for service is complete, they'll dock immediately. They don't record on their way to the call for service or on their way back.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

Okay. And then the officer who is in charge of the drone, when I met with Deputy Chief Andrade and Matt Sorensen, they shared that the maximum amount of time that they'd be up in the air is 49 minutes. Is that correct?

Yes, if that's what they expressed. Yes, I don't know exactly the exact amount of time.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

And then the drones are limited to the radius of the city and cannot fly outside the bounds of the city. Is that correct?

That's correct.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

Okay. And should we have a drone that's flying over to a targeted part of Santa Ana, let's say address XYZ is the location, and it's in the air for 40 minutes, then all 40 of those minutes are public records, correct?

Not if it did not record. Only what it recorded and then obviously it all applies to public records request act based on whatever it captured.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

Okay. Wonderful. Because that's where I've seen a lot of emails come from members of the public is as it pertains to potential violations of their rights. them being surveillanced and us having, we heard a member of the public today say, a police state, a surveillance state. So in the case of 2024 to 2025, there was a legal battle. La Presna, San Diego versus the city of Chula Vista, where the city of Chula Vista was sued for public records that the police department argued were exempt.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

They unfortunately, you know, in this case, went through a very long litigious battle that resulted in $500,000 in illegal payout by the city. This precedent affects over a dozen California cities that are using this equipment. We have had a number of tumultuous battles with public records within our police department. Do you think that those days are past us or do you think that this is equipment that our public should trust the department with?

Let me answer your second question first. I think the public should trust our police department. I do believe that we ensure that we follow public records request parameters and laws that are in place. and we ensure that if it doesn't impede with any of the protections of the government code regarding investigations, then obviously we don't release those records or if there's ongoing investigations. But like I mentioned in the presentation, the audit logs are on a public-facing website for the PD, as demonstrated in one of the slides.

And when we talk about governance, our first level of governance for this policy or the use of drones is the city council and you have that opportunity every year during the military ordinance. The second layer is obviously, as Madam City Attorney mentioned, SB 54, constitutional law and California law. And the third one is what I mentioned is the audit trails. We have the ability to see who's looked at the flight logs, who's accessed what videos, just the way we do with BWC and the flight logs are all posted on a forward-facing website.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

Thank you, Chief Rodriguez. And in addition to that, I did have the opportunity to talk to Deputy Chief Andrade. A couple of the questions that I had were related to privacy violations, surveillance that may constitute a legal surveillance of the public. Can you tell me how this equipment has been used in mutual aid in the past, over the last several years that we have partnered with agencies like Tustin PD, who does have this equipment? Can you tell me to what lengths Santa Ana PD has used this equipment thus far?

Yes. As mentioned in the presentation, let me find the slide.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

You mentioned 17th and Tustin?

Yes. That one was what we refer to as what's called an open air barricade. Basically, it's one of the dangerous things. Well, they're all dangerous, but we had a person with a firearm in the parking lot of a shopping center in the open space area. And that constitutes a threat to public safety, to all the patrons and everybody. And we borrowed a drone to monitor the situation and be able to negotiate and evacuate anyone from the surrounding area and get a big picture view because it took 11 hours. And obviously with a helicopter, a helicopter has to leave to refuel.

We were able to maintain constant access to information of what the person was doing and eventually led to a peaceful resolution.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

Thank you, Chief. That was one of the examples where I think Santa Ana PD did exemplary police work. And in partnering with other agencies, too, it was somebody who saw their day in court, had due process. and that was good policing. I think that that is the type of policing we want to see more of. Where I do draw concerns is

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

surveillancing small groups of protestors, people who are protesting state sanctioned violence, ICE, shooting at members of the public, who then may come to a protest to use their First Amendment rights. I am concerned as to how we may infringe on their First Amendment rights, under Fourth Amendment rights, what policies are you going to have in place to ensure that those rights are not violated or infringed upon?

That would be covered under the Department of Policy 606, but also under just the protections of the First Amendment, ensuring that we don't do surveillance while people exercise their First Amendment rights. So just to explain that, when we fly a drone to monitor a crowd, we're not recording. We only record when there's criminal activity or there's a threat to public safety. So there is protections against first people exercising their First Amendment right.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

Thank you, Chief. And then lastly, to that point of using this drone equipment to augment using, you know, physical bodies and putting them in a position where they may feel like their safety is compromised and that they make a life or death decision. I see the validity and need for technology like that. Where my concerns lie, Chief, is that this was equipment that was experimented on Palestinians during a time where we saw them being dehumanized on the receiving end of a genocide on our phones. This council chamber was a place where many of those residents came out and shared those horrific experiences.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

I am very concerned about the ethics of us adopting equipment that was used to monitor and eventually kill families, children, mothers, and innocent people who were not criminals. This is very different. This is about keeping Santa Ana safe. but my concerns are I would have loved to have seen a presentation that really dived deep into how we would use this for an Amber Alert how we would use this equipment to to help identify a fact pattern as to where a child may be how we would use the automated speaker on a drone to announce the description of a child what a child's wearing what the child's name is I think that that type

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

of policing I would be supportive of I'd also would have been supportive of seeing seen collaboration across departments like Parks and Rec to partner with Parks and Rec on event coordination, event management, layouts, to work with the fire department on utilizing this equipment to send in drones in locations that may be very dangerous for our fire department. I would have been very supportive to seeing something much more comprehensive. At this time, I don't feel that our department is in a position where we can adopt more equipment given that we just received militarized equipment,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

we were out of compliance with the state of California, I think that this would be an item I would feel more comfortable coming back to, and I will put a sub-motion on the floor to pass this to the Police Oversight Commission so that we can have a more democratic process, allow our commissioners to be able to question you guys, meet with different experts. I would love for them to consider different companies that can use drones that maybe haven't been used in Palestine. And so with that being said, I'll put a sub-motion on the floor in hopes of creating more democracy here in the Santa Ana City Council.

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

I'll second that motion.

Thank you. Madam City Clerk, there's a sub-motion of the first and second. Council Member Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 15

Thank you, Madam Mayor. And thank you, Chief, for the great presentation and very informative. Quick question though about policy 606. So there was a draft included in the packet before us this evening. So tonight, is that draft policy not ready to be adopted?

No, it's not. It's just there for reference. Right now, the only thing is the recommendation for approval of the agreement and the purchase of the drones.

Phil BacerraItem 15

Okay. And so that policy, what is your plan then? is that to then be reviewed by the Police Oversight Commission then brought back to us?

We uh we'll take uh you know Council comments and any recommendations uh and uh and take it uh if need be to the Police Oversight and also uh implement through our normal policy implementation process that we go through internally.

Phil BacerraItem 15

Okay perfect thank you because when I read the policy I thought it addressed a lot of the concerns that we heard from folks tonight And by the way, I want to thank everybody that came out to speak, regardless of which side you were on the issue. And what I really appreciate was all the email comments that we got, because sometimes we get these organizations that tell somebody to, you know, be against something, and then you get 100 form emails, and it does, has zero sincerity. Whereas the emails that we saw tonight, where you could tell people were just emphatically passionate about this issue.

Phil BacerraItem 15

They wrote these emails, and you could tell it came from the heart. So I want to thank those folks that wrote those emails. And again, there were some that were for and against, but at least we didn't get the flood of just the fake draft emails, the form emails.

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

So Councilmember, if I may, and as a reminder, in keeping with the state statute and our own policy, when it comes to militarized weapons, we still have to do an annual presentation to the city council. So that evaluation is going to happen whether we approve it today, which we hope, you know, it does get passed. But that's the key. We're still going to come back on a yearly basis. This is what, excuse me? Yeah, it's an ordinance for us to come back on an annual basis on military equipment. I knew that.

Phil BacerraItem 15

I didn't ask. I knew that.

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

Yeah. I just want to make sure because we talk about the policy components. I understand that. Thank you.

Phil BacerraItem 15

No, no, no. And I appreciate you clarifying that. But no, that was clear to me because the state policy was very clear that that military policy is updated annually and not upon the purchase of every single equipment, correct?

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

Right. And it's an ordinance also. So this will be part of that policy update, right, which is why the way we wrote it this way.

Phil BacerraItem 15

Okay, perfect. Thank you, Mr. City Manager. Chief, I appreciate it as part of your presentation, you talked about information earlier, an observation tool and indoor situational awareness. I know one of my colleagues, I think it was Mayor Pro Tem Penaloza, brought up fireworks. I know that's what really, for a lot of folks, started the conversation, at least for me and my board, about, hey, we see what's happening in Stanton. We are sick of these fireworks. Can't we get drones? We saw the city of Riverside doing it just a little bit before Stanton was, and there was this desire to see Santa and Anafalo in their footsteps.

Phil BacerraItem 15

So that conversation has been going on for a while, and so I appreciate that we're even having this. We talk about the protests. And so I was with the chief and our city manager. We were in the EOC when one of the protests were happening. And so I get the concerns that, as if the police were monitoring it because there was something against the protests. But what I saw at one point was, we didn't have the drone going down 4th Street, but we saw peaceful protests going down 4th Street. This was, I forget what time, probably 10, 30, 11 o'clock at night. And then the chief pointed out to me and said, hey look, look a little bit

Phil BacerraItem 15

behind the crowd. And so, so the camera, you could see the camera pivot over, and you saw guys, two guys in sweatshirt hoods, and they were kind of running up behind the crowd. They were hiding behind the cars. They'd run up a little bit, then and they'd hide behind the cars, and they were trying to instigate the police. The 99% of the folks that were walking down 4th Street were doing it in a peaceful way, but there were a couple of agitators that were there. And if it wasn't for those cameras, for all they know, for the officers that are on the ground monitoring, they can't see that. That aerial eye in the sky,

Phil BacerraItem 15

or aerial eye on the pole, if you will, helped identify that yes, Yes, the majority of those protesters were peaceful, but there were agitators. There were folks that were trying to turn a peaceful situation into something worse. And thank goodness for that equipment and that technology, we were able to identify or you guys were able to identify who was there to cause trouble and ruin what was a very peaceful expression of First Amendment rights. So I think this technology will actually help enhance and make sure that if there are going to be demonstrations and protests here in Santa Ana, that they are done peacefully, and that if

Phil BacerraItem 15

there are agitators that are trying to provoke a situation that would become more violent or out of control, RPD will be able to see who's trying to attempt to make that happen before it gets out of hand. So I see it as a de-escalation tool. I see it as something that can help de-escalate. We're always hearing people talk about de-escalate. A lot of us on the dais want to talk about de-escalation but this is a tool that would help us do it it's also a service enhancement this is something where i think you were saying chief that in all these other

Phil BacerraItem 15

jurisdictions 40 of the calls that these dfrs are going out on they weren't having to send an officer out and we've got so i'll just do it right now versus later how many vacancies do we have

right now we're at 32 now so 32 vacancies right we went up a little we had a couple retirements

Phil BacerraItem 15

But that, because of where we're at, I mean, and even if we had zero vacancies, we still probably could use more officers than what we are already funding. And the fact that these drones would help us, numbers that large in those other jurisdictions, we definitely could use that help here. And the last thing I'll just add that I'm really appreciative of is that it is compliant with SB 54. before. And the fact that I think this technology more so than other technology that RPD has, we control it. This isn't something in a cloud where other agencies can tap into it. And

Phil BacerraItem 15

we're not just trying to record. This is observational, whether it's, you know, at one point there was a guy stuck in the flood control channel. This wasn't a criminal issue. I mean, I guess he was trespassing, but he was stuck in the flood control channel. The only way that OCFA was going to be able to see how to get this guy out of the flood control channel. He was stuck in one of those little side tunnels, but the only way OCFA was going to see how to get that guy out was utilizing a neighboring jurisdiction's drone. So this will be something that I'm going to

Phil BacerraItem 15

believe not only helps RPD, but will also help OCFA as well. So thank you for that, Chief, and I'll be supporting the original motion, not the sub-motion. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember.

mayor can i make two points of clarification please first uh the council member uh hernandez regarding whether the drones will be used outside the city limits per our mutual aid agreement if a neighboring agency who doesn't have a drone in those cases we would and then in reference to the parks and wrecks we're not able to use the parks and wrecks but we are able to because it's for policing or fire safety rescue as a council member sir mentioned and as you mentioned also we could use for fire. Mr. City Manager, speaking of Parks and Rec, when I go to events there

is a drone up. That is a city drone from Parks and Rec or where is that drone from?

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

Yes, we do it as part of our... I'm sorry? Deputy City Manager whispering in my ear. Anyway, yes we do have in Parks and Recreation... You should just speak into the mic then instead of whispering in your ear.

Yeah, we can't hear. Yes.

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

Not you.

They need to turn it off. So my question was, when we go to events, I know all of us up here, we see drones. And so they are not police drones. They're park and rec drones or they're city drones?

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

They're city drones under Parks and Recreation.

Under Parks and Rec. And how many drones does Parks and Rec have?

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

I believe one.

One drone. So like our beautiful calendar for 2026, some of those photos were taken by our drone and they're absolutely beautiful. Yes.

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

So we do take photographs, promotional events, highlight some of our issues. We do it for that type of component. We do it for our 5K run also. Some of those photographs you saw in the calendar were part of that aspect, so we use it for promotional value.

And they're not used for policing?

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

No.

So Parks and Rec, just to be clear, has a drone?

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

Yes. Yes.

And they record? Yes.

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

Thank you, Mayor Prochaz. For the city. Take photographs for us.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 15

For the city.

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

Right now, it's for police work. No.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 15

Mayor, can I just also address one last issue with the Public Records Act issue? Sure. Because I think it's important and it's something that the public mentioned. I think there are concerns about whether people who might be exercising their First Amendment rights and protesting, whether they might be surveilled and then people would be able to identify them. And there was a reference to this new case that came out.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 15

And I would just like to say I've read that case very carefully and that case would allow the city to look through all of that footage even if we got a public records act request and we would do the same thing we do with body worn camera footage. We go in there and make sure that faces are not identifiable, that if there are any minors that are clearly minors, if there's any victims of crimes, that they're all done. Does that create a little more burden on us? Yes, it does. So if someone's going to request the footage, take us a little longer because we need the staff to look at it.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 15

But I want you to be assured that if we were to get Public Records Act requests for that type of footage, we would review it to make sure that all privacy rights are protected. So it's kind of like when we share a police report, we redact information. Is that correct? We redact a police report. And currently, we get a lot of requests for body-worn camera footage. I know there was someone here tonight that was concerned about how long. We redact a lot of it. It is very time intensive. I will say that. that, but we do that because we think it's important to protect privacy.

Thank you. And I also just want to make a comment that Councilmember indicated that we were out of compliance. We were out of compliance because of the previous chief that was here. This Chief Rodriguez, since you've been here, we are not out of compliance, is that correct? You immediately went to fix that with our city manager, is that correct? That is correct. So we are no longer out of compliance and you'll be bringing it as required every year. And again, I will state we were out of compliance with the previous chief, not you. Is that correct, sir? That's correct. Okay. Thank you so very much. Councilmember Fann, go ahead.

Go ahead, Councilmember.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Thank you, Mayor. Did you need to correct something?

Yes.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

I just wanted to share. I want to share, Chief Rodriguez, with all due respect, this was not corrected until after the ICE protest. Therefore, it was not corrected until the public was fired on. So under your tenure early on, we were still out of compliance, and then you, after protesters showed up and had five hours of public comment, and I raised the issue here, you then got us in compliance, and we're appreciative of that. But I want to be clear on the record. This happened before you were the chief, under Chief Valentin, And it wasn't until after June 9th that this issue was raised here at the dais. Then we got into compliance.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

So I just want to share on the record, it wasn't because Santa Ana PD said, we're out of compliance. We want to be in compliance. People got shot with chemical agents, non-lethal rounds and rubber bullets. They showed up to council meetings, shared their experience. You being proactive then corrected that. So I want to thank you, but I want to be on the record that we were still out of compliance when you were our chief. It wasn't until after June 9th that we then got in compliance. Chief, go ahead. That will be my comment.

Thank you, Councilmember. And I'd like to add some to that. And it also includes a public records request. I got appointed December 15th. On December 16th, I requested my staff to start working on this because we're out of compliance. So the day after I got appointed, I requested and it was that we do it at the fiscal year. So I put it in motion before even the June protest.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 15

We appreciate that clarification, Chief. Thank you.

Thank you, Chief Rodriguez, very much. Council Member Fan.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Thank you, Mayor. Chief, as you know, I sent you a marked up, commented, redlined copy of the the policy, right, 606, Madam City Attorney, Mr. City Manager, you received it too. So I guess to reiterate all of my colleagues and the commenters, there are three issues at hand, privacy, transparency, and accountability. And I guess that's what I want to make sure that we address. To go to your presentation relating to accountability, I'm just gonna start there.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Number one, not every police officer will have the ability to use the UAS, correct?

That is correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

So only specific individuals and because I did in the policy it states, you know, someone who has training but also selected by the chief of police or the commander, correct?

Right, or his designee.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay. And when selecting these individuals, they have to be in good standing, right, and meet whatever criteria the designee has. What does good standing mean?

Good standing basically means that it's an officer with no, that's able to be committed to the program. We do do what we call like an internal background where we look at, we do look at discipline history. We look at various criteria to ensure that they're the right person for that assignment.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Thank you. So I imagine it's potentially a similar amount of scrutiny, review, and training that maybe some of our SWAT officers might receive, correct?

That is correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Thank you. And also, in order for someone to use these UASs, there's obviously login, is that correct?

Yes.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay. And every minute that they are logged into these drones and this program monitoring monitoring or, excuse me, responding to calls with these drones, they are logged in and you can track that, correct?

Yes. In addition to that, even someone else who views it at a later time logs in and access it, it will create an audit trail of who's viewed it also.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Thank you. And if, what we're talking about accountability going to transparency, as you mentioned, that every deployment of these drones will be placed online for anyone to take a look at, is that correct?

That is correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

So that if there is a drone that is called out to, say, let's say a young child on the street, right? I was once that young child on the street. I was four. And you can either send a drone out or an officer out, but a drone will probably be faster I assume.

That is correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay. And how quickly can a drone get to a location?

They can get there just depending on where the call for service is at. Within two minutes is usually what we're reporting. Right now, the response time.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Right. And the priority one responses right now are averaging about four?

Four to five minutes, depending on time of day.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Thank you. And is there a reason why we are looking at three drones?

Yes, due to budgetary constraints.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay. And I know, can the drones fly all across the city or, you know, are there limits to how far they can go?

No, they can, they have their limitations, but the more drones you have throughout the city, you can get a faster response time. I think Newport Beach just purchased quite quite a bit of drones. And I'm not exactly how many of them were, but it was definitely probably around 10, if not more.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay. So I assume that with these three, we'll place them in strategic areas throughout the city to ensure that they, I guess, if are called, would respond as quickly as possible.

That's correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay. And regarding transparency in the Public Records Act, so you said that, first of all, Well, all records are public records. Whether they are disclosable is the question. So let's be clear. These are all public records, but it's up to our police department, our city attorney's office to review to determine whether there's an applicable exemption. Now regarding these exemptions, we would treat all this data the same way we treat our body worn camera footage, correct?

That is correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Our body worn cameras are created by Axon, is that correct?

Yes. Yes.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Our body-worn camera footage is managed on a platform owned by Axon, correct?

On evidence.com, yes.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay. Our body-worn cameras are worn by every field officer, is that correct?

Yes.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Are we trying to get rid of our body-worn cameras?

No.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay. And please clarify if I'm wrong. These drones, part of the reason why you're looking at these drones by Skydio is because because the platform in which we can upload this information integrates with Axon, is that correct?

That is correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

And I think earlier we were also looking at in-car cameras as requested by my colleagues, also potentially owned by Axon, correct?

That is correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Because it's easier for all of our employees to be able to manage all the footage on the same platform, is that correct?

Yes, it's all integrated in the same platform.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay, thank you. My other question is relating to privacy. So in the policies, it does state that number, well, you mentioned that number one, when a drone is deployed, it will not be recording unless there is a specific reason for it to be recording while being deployed, correct?

Yes.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay, and not on the way back also, correct?

Correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

And the drones are only good for how long, 29 minutes, 30 minutes?

49 minutes, I think, is what was stated earlier.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay, thank you. The max. Right. And I also, so maybe, Madam City Attorney, I think I had a question. I assume that when a drone is recording, right, we talked about how, well, it has to comply with, say, probable cause and things like that. It's no different from, say, an officer peeking into someone's home right they have to have probably well they can't they can't just look into someone's home and like try to you know peer around they have to have probable cause or search warrant or court order yes and I think that was a

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 15

reason that we clarified that these will not be used for code enforcement purposes because if we want to access someone's property we have to get an inspection warrant we have to go to a court but go to a judge and tell them why we have probable cause the judge will then ask us questions and then and decide whether we can get a warrant to access their property.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay. That's helpful to me because I do understand the concerns with privacy. The main issues that I've been seeing that people have raised to me is this issue of surveillance, right? This issue that we're going to have our own version of Skynet, Starlink, you know, eyes in the sky that is just floating around and sending information back to PD. Like, I don't think that that is unreasonable. I think that that is a very reasonable concern because, you know, we don't want to be constantly monitored. But I guess what I'm trying to understand or just trying to clarify with folks is that

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

in this policy that we are looking to approve, it specifically prohibits proactive monitor or proactive, I guess, deployment, proactive…

Proactive policing, roaming…

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Right. Proactive patrol. Patrol. So it's less effective in that manner, given that it has a very limited time, than a police car driving around your neighborhood?

Correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

So just to clarify, a drone will only be deployed, well, typically will only be deployed when there's a call that would generally require a police officer to respond.

That's correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

My other question is also going to privacy. In 606.6, it does say that the use of vision enhancement technology is only permissible in viewing areas where there's no protectable privacy interest or within compliance with search warrant or court order. In all other instances, legal counsel should be consulted, which is consistent with any type of searches and whatnot right yes that is very helpful I hope that when we bring back our in-car cameras I believe all of them have the ability to use AI

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

and also enhancement technology that we have a similar limitation for those car

cameras thank you can I add a comment to that a I shaman so some speakers spoke about AI and I just want to clarify that the AI built into the drones is not for for decision making, it does not make decisions, it does not, a police officer or an operator of the drone makes those decisions. The AI is used for algorithms when it's inside of a structure so it doesn't crash into a wall, into up in the sky into another drone, but it's not an algorithm where it's a decision making drone.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Right, so it's a cystic driving.

Right. Got it.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

So, going next to the issues of what these drones can be used for authorized UAS flight types, I wish we didn't have to use these for illegal fireworks. I tried to ban them, but no one agreed. And if there is somebody using illegal fireworks in the city, and they do light a lot of illegal fireworks, we should charge them for $500,000. I don't have a problem with that. So I just want to put that on the record, NPT. If they have the money to buy all these illegal fireworks.

You could bring an item for $5,000 fine, please.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Actually, I believe we legally can. I will look for that.

Let's bring that to bat.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

So the next question I also have is relating to prohibited uses. We obviously talked about preventing surveillance activities in proactive patrol. I also want to clarify that these requirements for targeting a person based on you know, sole character or actual perceived characteristics, right? Typical race, ethnicity, etc. I would like that we also bring back political affiliation or perceived political affiliation. I think that would be very helpful given that we do have a lot of protests here in the city.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

And then would not be the equipped with the UAS should not be equipped with any device or platform capable of employing lethal force that's also a prohibition I would like us to consider less than lethal force also there is some less than lethal force that is still very very painful as evidenced by the use of DHS and rubber bullets I okay those are all my comments there you're well over time

I'll come back to you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay. I have more, but feel free.

Let me come back to you. Council Member Vasquez. I'm sorry. She's well over.

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

Thank you, and I appreciate all the comments. Everybody, this is a great discussion.

Phil BacerraItem 15

And Council Member Penalosa brought up ICE,

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

and I was just wondering if we get a call and there's some scuffle on the street on Warner and Bristol, we send out our drone, and we capture federal agents, ICE agents doing illegal activity, would it be possible for us to bring charges on those agents that are doing an illegal activity caught on camera?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 15

Madam City Attorney, that would be for you. Well, it would depend on what that illegal activity is. I mean, you don't, law enforcement officers don't get a pass on illegal activity. So it would have to really depend on what would be that arrestable offense. So what exactly would that be? What would we be seeing them do? We can see, are you meaning they're breaking into a store and taking something? That type of thing. We could do an investigation as we would in any situation and the police department could evaluate that and decide whether they were going to make the arrest and then whether

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 15

they're going to refer a charge over to district attorney's office. But I can't imagine if it's just looking over sight what those might be when you say they're doing something illegal.

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

Right. There's entering, trespassing, going into a school illegally or killing somebody, hurting somebody, bodily harm to people who are even citizens or wherever we find them doing an illegal action. THAT WOULD BE ILLEGAL FOR AN OFFICER TO DO WHO'S ON DUTY.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 15

I WOULD JUST SAY THIS, IF WE HAVE BODY-WORN CAMERA FOOTAGE OR DRONE FOOTAGE THAT IS SHOWING EVIDENCE OF A CRIME, THAT MATERIAL COULD BE USED, REGARDLESS OF WHO THE PEOPLE ARE.

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

THANK YOU. THANK YOU SO MUCH. I APPRECIATE IT. THANK YOU, PENELOZA, FOR BRINGING IT UP BECAUSE IT INSPIRED ME. BUT WHAT ALSO INSPIRED ME IS THAT WHEN WE HAVE A BUILDING AND WE'RE We're going to approve this building. Guess what? Guess where it goes to first, Padilla Loza? I'm not being aggressive, by the way.

Where do you think it goes first?

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

You mean Mayor Pro Tem.

I'm being nice to the new Mayor Pro Tem.

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

It goes to the planning department, and then we get it. And then we approve it. Same with the park or anything else. So that's why I'm saying send it for process reasons. The policy is not done, but we guide them, and we have process where the public feels comfortable

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

comfortable listening to everything. I'm going to give you a hug afterwards. Where the public feels comfortable, like it's gone through a process that they would be more comfortable having gone through the police oversight commission, and that's why I bring it up. And, you know, I'm still, and thank you for that, and I'm still a little worried with Axiom being connected to genocide and buying technology and continue to buying technology just because it's easy it's not a good reason to support genocide for us I think we have to find

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

a new vendor for the the car cameras and now this new technology that we have and the body cameras

thank you Thank You councilman Vasquez yes go ahead come I didn't see your mic up but I assumed Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 15

I have a question about process. Because this is I think what I'm concerned about, right? Because we just saw cameras for vehicles, which was a receiving file. And I asked in regards to that item, is that going to be sole source? Is that going to be an RFP? Same thing with this item. Sole source or RFP? and I would actually love to know why, either or. And again, why is this item going through a different process? Because with an in-car video camera,

Jessie LopezItem 15

we don't necessarily have a framework in place for that because it would be the first time that the city ventures to do that, correct? And with this item, we're also saying openly we don't have the policy in place, which is why so many questions about the protections are being asked out loud. And so it's essentially saying buy this equipment and, you know, kind of see how it tests out.

Thank you for the question there, Council Member. So this agreement was lawfully examined under San Adam Municipal Code 2-807 because Axon was awarded a competitively bid source well cooperative contract UAS agreement with Axon. Therefore the purchasing manager formally approved the exception after determining the process was substantially equivalent to the city bidding requirements. So it went through source well, which is a legal process under our municipal code.

Jessie LopezItem 15

Yeah, and by no means am I trying to say that we did not follow a legal process or that something that shouldn't have happened, happened, right? I'm saying what are the processes that can be consistent so that one council member requested policy doesn't follow one process over the other?

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

So good question. So we'll say it that way. But we do have policy, right?

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

When the chief says if we choose to purchase this, right, it will require at least some modifications, right? Since we don't have this equipment, right, we will have to look what that means, right? That's one. And two, when we talk about the sole source component versus the – RFP. Right, versus going to an RFP is something we will have to look at. that some of the concerns raised today as far as that concern regarding Axon and those connections, right, we have an Axon contract. We're working with them with six years, seven years?

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

With Axon since 2017. So since 2017. So for us, as we provide this staff report, we're trying to make the connection to facilitate at least an understanding of what we're looking to purchase and what kind of software that that applies to. to. So that's what it was a receiving file and that's what we're asking for this kind of component. So obviously if any more, if we authorize the purchase and we do buy, we would have to expand out the policy, we'd be part of that annual presentation that we've been to city council. So that's the level of component. As far as going to the POC,

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

if that's something that is customary for this type of process, and again today we just passed the bylaws of the POC, I think tomorrow I'll send my email regarding the U visa process. So this is the step that we're developing in congruency with trying to develop that specific type of process. So we have this combination of being to the City Council as a policy director board and also establishing processes that allows us to go to the POC when necessary.

Jessie LopezItem 15

Yes, thank you. And we are the policymakers, right? I 100% agree with that. But the commission itself was created so that they would take some of these things off of our hand and then actually do the work of recommending items to the Council that have been fully vetted. So I don't think it's a bad idea to essentially put our commission to work, right? And so I think it's something that they've been asking very publicly and privately to all of us. And so I do echo those, I guess that question of why not?

Jessie LopezItem 15

Why wouldn't we allow them to explore these issues that we're bringing up? And again, I think with the in-car video, that's something that they should have feedback for us. When we're talking about training officers with in-car video, that is something that they should also be part of the training, right? So that they understand how the technology is going to work. And so I wholeheartedly agree with the policymakers, but I also think that we have to put our commissioners to work. That's part of why they raised their hands to say, hey, I want to be a part of this commission. And so, again, part of the process concerned for me.

Jessie LopezItem 15

And, you know, I think NPT raises a good issue because this technology is very powerful. it's very fast-moving, which means that my governance has to be just as strong and just as deliberate, because there's an entire world that I may have knowledge about and may not have knowledge about. And so even when we're talking about conversations of data ownership, right, we're not necessarily having a conversation about we do not get to control the data that a different company that we might work with shares, with their third party vendors or other folks

Jessie LopezItem 15

that they're in business with, right? And I think that that is an important component here because centralized data, as we're talking about, having one corporation, one company, have different contracts with us, whether it's body-worn cameras, whether it's in car vehicles, or whether it's drone, you're talking about centralizing a system. them and ultimately this is very easy you can actually go online and figure out who does accent accent share information with and so I think that's the other component which again I would have loved to have seen this go through

Jessie LopezItem 15

a similar process as our in-car video where we get an informational item we're able to provide feedback we're able to actually work on the polity itself so so that it is clear, so that it gives our residents, I think, trust, because to me, this is all a conversation about trust, right? I have people in my district and outside of the district that are saying, yes, go ham, 100%. There's other people that are saying, no, you have to slow down, because there are questions about the policy that is included in the staff report that is pretty vague still. And so I think we're not at the point yet

Jessie LopezItem 15

where our constituents fully trust that we're going to do right by them, that, you know, vague policies are going to actually protect them. And I know that, I know you're fully invested in that. I know I'm fully invested in that. But again, I think not fully understanding how these processes actually work, how they're layered, what protections can we actually provide is really the root of disagreement, with this item. You know, I saw the list of eight meetings, right, and we just had another policy

Jessie LopezItem 15

discussion that I asked about where did we go out to. And so I think with issues like this, yes, it does create more work for staff. It absolutely creates more work for this council to go out to different neighborhood meetings, to go out and have conversations with folks, not necessarily to meet people with contempt and say how dare you ask that when you take a selfie because this is a learning process not just for us on the dais not just for city staff but for our constituents for our community who in this moment have very very credible questions and concerns and fear and so I think that

Jessie LopezItem 15

when you meet people with that level of contempt you don't open you know the the space to actually have a conversation where everybody can learn from each other. And so that's number one, the issue for me. The other issue similar to the in-car video, right? Making sure that whatever comes back in the future, I think that this policy is going to move forward. But whatever comes back in the future, that we have a full accounting as best as we can have for budgeting purposes, right? right when we discussed this publicly last year we were quoted at $250,000.

Jessie LopezItem 15

This is now over half a million dollars and so I think including that as much information as we can I think is going to be important and imperative because we understand that we have to allocate every dollar and the budget is going to look different next year.

Council Member Lopez can I come back to you please? Oh yes. Yes, I apologize. Thank you so much. Councilmember Phan, try to stay please three minutes.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

I have a lot of questions.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

So Chief, well first I really do respect and I'm glad that we're talking about the privacy concerns but let's be clear, we are already using drones in the City of Santa Ana but we're using other agencies' drones, is that correct? Yes. Or like OC Sheriff's Department for example.

Yes. Yes.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

So I'd like to say that I'd rather trust our police department compared to the OC Sheriff's Department because the Santa Ana Police Department does not work with ICE for immigration purposes.

That's great.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Thank you. Now, I would like to hear a little bit more about the January 2026 use of the drone to monitor the protests here at 34th Civic Center. So in that case, we've heard individuals talk about how two members of the public were shot in the eye and were blinded. Is that correct? correct? Yes, that's correct. That was done by the Department of Homeland Security and not Santa Ana PD, correct? That's correct. Santa Ana PD was never deployed that night, was that correct?

Well, we were deployed as a force protection to provide medical aid alongside with

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Orange County Fire Authority. So we were only deployed to support OCFA who were there to to provide medical aid to the protesters, correct?

That's correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Were we ever called by DHS for support?

Yes, we were.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay, because it's my understanding that DHS called us seven times.

That is correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

To say that they were being attacked by protesters. Is that correct?

Yes.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

And we never deployed in support of DHS us because we had a drone monitoring the situation. Is that correct?

That is correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

And Commander Sorensen was able to say, you're not under attack. We are not deploying our officers. Is that correct?

That is correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

So to me, that is the absolute correct way to use these drones in order to prevent SAPD from being deployed in order to prevent other agencies from utilizing SAPD for their purposes. This was how we were able to allow Santa Ana residents to protest and exercise their First Amendment rights. This is how the use of a drone helped residents protest the illegal and terrible things that ICE is

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

doing it. So that's just a comment. Now when, sorry, it was, I believe, former MPT Vasquez mentioned that if the drones are called out, say, let's, there's a scuffle or ICE is detaining somebody, and, you know, someone calls SAPD and says, hey, ICE is committing something illegal, they're, you know, they're hurting people, right? Or we don't even know if it's ice. We just know it's armed men, right, kidnapping a woman. The drone goes out because there's a call and let's say the drone captures footage of what's happening and we find out later that it's ice or Border Patrol. If that

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

resident decides to sue, whether it's that individual ice agent, Border Patrol, or the federal government, can they subpoena that drone footage to support their case against the illegal arrest?

Yes, they can.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay, so you're saying this drone footage can actually help protesters and residents in lawsuits against ICE?

That's correct. And let me add to that, and back to former MPT's question, sorry. If a community member calls the police, regardless of who it is, and say they're being attacked, we will respond in addition to a drone. And if any footage is captured, it is available based through the legal process.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 15

The Fourth District Court of Appeal, when it looked at that case in Chula Vista, created three categories of what they thought drone footage could fall into. One was like clear investigation. We wouldn't disclose that under current exemptions under the California Public Records Act. And then there was one that was kind of like a hybrid of that. but the third category was clearly subject to disclosure and that was for general responses to 911 calls of course disclosure with any you know privacy picture redaction redaction okay but yes clearly to answer your question the

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 15

court addressed that issue and said it would be disclosable thank you now my

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

other question is relating to you know and I know council member Vasquez you you mentioned the axons used by Israel regarding the genocide in Gaza, right? Do we use any Apple products here in the city? I think some of our council members have iPhones. City issued iPhones?

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

Yes.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Yeah, because I do believe Apple has a multi-billion dollar R&D center in Israel, employing roughly 2,500 people. Do we use any Google products here in the city?

Alvaro NuñezItem 15

Yes.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

And I believe they just also entered into a multi-billion dollar AI project on the contract known as Project Nimbus. So I understand these concerns. I'm not trying to bring up an issue of whataboutism, but my job here in the city of Santa Ana is to provide technology and resources to ensure public safety for our residents. I can see that these drones may be useful as a public safety enhancement. So that because we have calls for service that our officers may not respond to quickly enough, these drones can help make sure that we are able to get to incidences when there are calls.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

I think most of us up here on the dais have called 911 at some point. I know I have. I know Sokambra Hernandez has. I know the mayor has. And in some cases, just the fact that we know someone is coming makes a big difference. For example, if there's a major car accident, if a drone is able to respond, that means you're able to get aerial footage of the accident scene, correct?

That's correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Okay. Because I know that in some cases, if we have officers tied up in a major priority one call, it might take longer for them to respond to other priority one calls. You know, sometimes like Halloween, it's a busy time. Okay.

Okay, Council Member, you almost done?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

Yes. So the last thing I would like to say is that as we see these items move forward I do want to see the policy go to the Police Oversight Commission so that they can vet and add You know any type of guardrails. I think that that makes a lot of sense However, I don't see a reason why we would not move forward with this purchase I think it is important that we rely on our own resources rather than going out to other departments I don't trust going to Anaheim with their drones. I know council member Hernandez sure doesn't trust Anaheim PD with their drones I'd rather have our officers review and man our drones and

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

So I would be supporting this item and I look forward to comments by the police oversight commission regarding the policy. Thank you Thank You councillor. Madam clerk. Can you call the vote please?

Jennifer L. HallItem 15

Yes mayor and City Council we currently have the motion on the floor is the sub motion by council member Hernandez seconded by council member Vasquez to remand the entire item number 15 to the police oversight commission do a roll call please council member Becerra no council member Hernandez yes council member Lopez no council member Phan no council member Vasquez yes

David PenalozaItem 15

Yes.

Jennifer L. HallItem 15

Mayor Pro Tem Penalosa?

David PenalozaItem 15

No.

Jennifer L. HallItem 15

Mayor Meskwa? No. Vote is two ayes, five nays. Ayes by Council Members Hernandez and Vasquez. Motion fails. We'll revert to the original motion that was on the floor, which is a motion by Mayor Pro Tem Penalosa, seconded by Mayor Meskwa, to approve agreement with Axon Enterprise Inc for the implementation of the drone as a first responder system and patrol drone purchase for the police department. Council Member Becerra?

Phil BacerraItem 15

Yes.

Jennifer L. HallItem 15

Council Member Hernandez? Councilmember Fernandez? No. Councilmember Lopez? No. Councilmember Pham? Yes. Councilmember Vazquez?

David PenalozaItem 15

No.

Jennifer L. HallItem 15

Mayor Pro Tempagnolosa?

David PenalozaItem 15

Yes.

Jennifer L. HallItem 15

Mayor Meskwa? Yes. So it is four ayes, three nays. Nays by Councilmembers Hernandez, Lopez and Vazquez. Motion carries.

Great. Thank you very much. Thank you all very much up here for the great questions, interaction. Thank you, Chief, for the presentation. Really appreciate it. Let's go now. Now, Madam Clerk, you pulled the item from the public hearing, correct, and the consent. There's no item in public hearing, I see.

Jennifer L. HallItem 15

That's correct. The public hearing item number 18 was canceled by staff. The next item for your consideration is item 19, Councilmember requested item by Councilmember Vasquez.

Thank you very much. Okay.

Madam City Attorney, are you going to maybe some questions here for you? I don't know if you need to use the ladies' room. Feel free. I just know there will be questions for you. Item 19 was requested by Councilmember Vasquez. Council Member Vasquez, the floor is yours. And if we could do three, three, three, three, three, please. Otherwise, we'll be here till, I know it's important, I'm just saying.

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

Thank you, Mayor. Okay. Reporting by a local independent media, I'm just going to read it off, has raised serious questions regarding the Santa Ana Police Department's use of force during public demonstration on Santa Ana Civic Center in June 2025, which took place in response to ICE raids and broader federal enforcement presence. presence. Accounts describe the deployment of rubber bullets, tear gas, and other crowd control weapons against demonstrators, prompting community concerns about whether the response was justified, proportional, and consistent with city policy, constitutional standards,

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

and city commitments to transparency and public dress. Public demonstrations are a protected form of civic participation when law enforcement deploys military-style equipment, nonlethal through munitions and chemical agents during such events, the city has the responsibility to provide full transparency regarding the decision making cause coordination impacts of that response, particularly when there are reported injuries to demonstrators. To ensure accountability and public confidence, this item requests that the city council direct the city manager in coordination with the Senate and the police department

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

and relevant city departments to prepare a comprehensive public report and direct the Police Oversight Commission to hold a public hearing addressing the following. Here's the scope. The total cost associated with the law enforcement response, including personal overtime equipment, deployment, and munitions. A full inventory of weapons and last-leading munitions deployed, including rubber bullets, tear gas, pepper balls, and related crowd control devices. Body-worn camera footage and available aerial surveillance footage of officers during the deployment of force, including the firing of rubber bullets and the use of chemical agents

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

subject to legally required redactions. Injury report documented injuries to demonstrators, officers, and any members of the public, including medical treatment provided or reported. Operational planning and command decisions that led to the use of force, including the rules of engagement and escalation protocols. Interagency communications and coordination, including communications between the Santa Ana PD and the Orange County Sheriff's Department, federal agencies or other law enforcement agencies before, during and after the incident. Any after action reports, internal reviews or policy assessments conducted or planned

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

by the Santa Ana Police Department related to this incident. Additionally, this item requests that the Santa Ana Police Oversight Commission be formally directed to hold a public hearing on this incident, receive community testimony and provide findings and recommendations to the City Council.

Mayor Paterson. Yes. Thank you, Councillor Becerra. Councillor Vazquez. Are you done? You dropped the mic. I just want to make sure you're done. Okay. Mayor Pro Tem.

David PenalozaItem 15

Thank you, Mayor Mezcua. I was going to say, Councillor Vazquez, thank you for this item. If only we had drones last summer, we could have just had an aerial recording of what went down. I'm kidding. I'm teasing. But I'm supportive of this.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 15

anytime there's a there's a there's a the policy requires that they still do a full written report even if there's a video recording from the drone footage thank you i read it so but with that um

David PenalozaItem 15

anytime there's a chance for us to provide additional transparency and accountability always going to support that and oversight on how our police department responds to anything in the community yes i mean but the only um where i'm not sure or hesitant is whether this is just a a receiving file that the police oversight commission can deliberate on and then maybe, but I don't understand exactly if you wanna define more of what the public hearing part would be or what exactly that means.

Benjamin VazquezItem 15

Commission and they have a hearing of the outcomes and give us a report on what they come out with and what policies we need and what happened, whatever they recommend.

David PenalozaItem 15

Sure, I mean, I guess my direction to staff would be, I agree with the idea that we should look into what went down and how our police department responded whether it's a public hearing or receiving file I'm still but whatever options you could bring back to us as a city council to send to the police oversight commission I'd be supportive of that thank you council member Vasquez for that.

Madam city attorney I just have a question for you so I heard the word testimony when when Councilmember Vasquez was speaking. So I'm a little concerned when you have officers or say the chief or anybody coming from the police department and testify in front of the police oversight committee.

So can you elaborate a little bit?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 15

Yeah, I mean, I think what I'm understanding is that, and please don't let me put words in your mouth, Councilmember Vasquez, but I know we had a very brief conversation about what you wanted as part of your consultation with the office, is you want a public forum where the public can come forward and talk about this and where the police department can give a report and where the Commission can then make some findings or some recommendations or some type of report to make back to the City Council. It's more informational as I understand.