What just happened? Officers with the Beverly Hills police department have seemingly come up with a solution that could deter individuals from livestreaming confrontations with police or recording them and later posting them on social media. It's unclear at this time if the strategy was concocted by the officer in the spur of the moment or if it is part of a wide-reaching plan that we might see employed by other departments in the future.
As seen in a video featured in a Vice piece on the subject, BHPD Sgt. Billy Fair appears irritated that he is being livestreamed by Sennett Devermont. He retaliates by pulling out his phone and playing Sublime - Santeria. Later in the day, according to Devermont, the two have another encounter in which the officer again starts playing music loudly on his phone.
It appears as though the officer is intentionally blasting the music in hopes of triggering a copyright strike from the social media platform(s) the video is being streamed on.
A spokesperson for Instagram told Vice that their restrictions "take the following into consideration: how much of the total video contains recorded music, the total number of songs in the video, and the length of individual song(s) included in the video."
For what it's worth, Vice labeled Devermont as a prominent and well-known LA activist.
The Beverly Hills PD in a statement emailed to Vice said "the playing of music while accepting a complaint or answering questions is not a procedure that has been recommended by Beverly Hills Police command staff," and added that they are currently reviewing the matter involving Sgt. Fair.
Masthead credit Steve Sanchez Photos