Remember the cop that started blasting Taylor Swift music when questioned by a bystander on video? Well turns out, his fellow police officers were not amused with his tactic either.
To brief you on the incident that happened last month, an Alameda County Sheriff’s assistant David Shelby started playing Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” when talking to bystanders outside a courthouse who were recording his response on camera. James Burch, a policy director of the Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP) was told to remove his banner and when he confronted the officer, he purposefully started playing the song to drown out the conversation so that the video would be removed on terms of copyrighted content and not be uploaded on YouTube.
Unfortunately for Shelby, there are ways people can easily dispute copyright flags and upload videos on the social platform and he didn’t get away with it easily. In fact, the video now has over 740,000 views on YouTube, the exact opposite of what Shelby was hoping for. And the public isn’t too amused with the officer’s reaction, with many posting angry comments on YouTube and Twitter. Seems like the public isn’t the only one not a fan of his music blasting, many of his colleagues have also expressed their dislike regarding the incident and it is evident from their mail replies. “WHYYYYYY?” Wrote Sergeant Miguel Campos in an email to his colleagues with a link to a news story and a quote from Shelby. “I’m really at a loss when I watch the video,” replied Phillip Corvello, deputy sheriff. In another thread, Deputy Sheriff Henry Montigue wrote “Stay professional and don’t play Taylor Swift!!! Unreal…”
Tim Schellenberg, Captain at the Sheriff’s Office advised his officers to stop playing the video and giving the culprit more attention and learn from his mistake instead. He told them that they can and will be recorded during their interactions with the public and the best way to handle these situations “is to be professional and remain in accordance with the law and agency directives.”
