Correspondence - CS Item No. 3 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1 F. CITY,via its MET Officers, Continued to Act Unlawfully. 2 29. On May 5,2021,MET detective John Rodriguez was off duty in downtown Santa Ana with 3 4 his wife and brother-in-law at a bar. 5 30. Santa Ana Council Member JonathanHernandezwitnessedRodriguez(who Council Member 6 Hernandez recognized to be a CITY officer)and another man holding a struggling woman in a parking lot 7 ' in downtown Santa Ana, groping her breasts and telling her"chill,"and"shut up". 8 9 31. Council Member Hernandez called Chief Valentin and reported the incident directly to him. 10 32. Chief Valentin allegedly first responded by stating that the officer was retired but, when 11 Council Member Hernandez responded that he knew for a fact that the officerwas not retired,Chief Valentin 12 then changed his answer to say that the detective was retiring soon. 13 14 33. Rodriguez fled prior to being contacted by any on-duty personnel. 15 G. The Public Records Act Request. 16 34. Following this incident, Council Member Hernandez's friend, newspaper reporter Ben 17 Camacho, submitted a Public Records Act ("PRA")request for the names,photos and assignment of all 18 1. 19 CITY sworn Police Department personnel. 20 35. Many in the Police Department-unaware at the time of the reasoning behind this request- 21 were upset about their information being released and saw it as an officer safety issue. 22 36. There was a back and forth for about six weeks as the POA and its attorney Corey Glave 23 24 attempted to intervene on the officers'behalf in Court. 25 H. CITY's Police Officers React to CITY's Recision. 26 37. On June 19, 2021, the Police Depadment received email notification that the CITY/Chief 27 Valentin refused to support fighting the release of this information in Court. 28 38. Police Department personnel throughout the Department were extremely upset by this. CARDwALv.Cnvow9ANCAANA CASENO. COMPL M