Santa Ana Cop Suggested Killing The Unhoused, City Officials Opted For Banishment
A cop assigned to the homeless outreach team suggested that a "purge" is needed. City officials voted in favor of banishing the unhoused from public spaces.
“We need the purge around here,” stated Scott Fahrney, a Santa Ana police officer, moments after he demanded two unhoused individuals leave an area.
While Fahrney’s comment was a reference to the popular movie series, “The Purge”, which depicts a nationwide, mass-murder event sanctioned by a fictional United States government, it is also an insight to how some Santa Ana cops view the city in which they operate, and in 2021, largely did not reside in.
The interaction, which occurred on October 2nd, 2024, was captured on body-worn camera footage. In the footage, immediately after Fahrney’s comment, his partner, Kyle Donaldson, used his hand to block the camera’s view and turned his body away from the scene. Seconds after that, Donaldson stopped the camera from recording. It is unclear if this was the end of the incident. There is no incident report for this interaction, according to the Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD).
The interaction is a result of SAPD’s homeless outreach team, officially called the Quality of Life Team (QOLT). QOLT is SAPD’s primary unit used to make contact with unhoused residents. This is one of several incidents released via a recent public records request.
“We need the purge around here,” - SAPD Officer Scott Fahrney
Fahrney has been a cop with SAPD since at least 2010, according to government records. He is a self-described “MagaAmerican”, according to his public Facebook. Fahrney did not respond to questions sent via email.
Fahrney’s comment to the unhoused individuals echoes a larger trend of misinformation and shift towards violence against unhoused residents. Last month, Debrina Kawam was burned alive while she slept during a ride on the New York City subway. In April, a shelter in Ohio received a note stating that it was “open season for the purge to start.”
In 2022, Miami witnessed a killing spree by Willy Suarez, a realtor, who targeted the unhoused. Orange County also has the killing of Kelly Thomas, an unhoused man who was beatdown by Fullerton cops as he screamed for his father. Thomas died of his injuries five days later.
In 2021, Jacobin reported on data that showed three important facts:
“One, killings of homeless persons have been on the rise since 2010.”
“Two, the pandemic era has brought a new surge in homicides involving homeless people.”
“And three, contrary to the common perception, unhoused people are far more likely to be victims of homicides than perpetrators.”
As the city of Santa Ana moves towards further banishment of its unhoused residents from public areas, most city officials have not responded to inquiries about this incident nor the following.
“they allow dope down here”
On September 5th, 2024, SAPD officers Joshua Coleman and Steven Stuczynski detained, searched and released an unhoused individual who was sitting on a bus bench. The following is a transcript of their conversation:
SAPD: What’s your name, boss?
Individual: [Name redacted for privacy].
SAPD: [Repeats redacted name]. Where you from?
Individual: Yorba Linda.
SAPD: Yorba Linda? What are you doing down here?
Individual: [Unclear due to poor audio quality].
SAPD: Because they allow dope down here, is that why?
Individual: No, I’ve been out here for like a couple years.
Inadvertent could not identify the officer that was specifically involved in the conversation due to outdated headshot photographs provided by the SAPD. However, an incident report documents Coleman and Stuczynski as the involved officers.
At first, the officer did not state why the individual was being detained, he only asked the individual if he knew why he was being detained. As the officer beings to search the individual’s backpack, he stated “…what it looked like to me, you had— you were messing with some dope.”
During the search, the individual asked SAPD if there was “any chance” to get into a shelter, to which SAPD replied “not mine.”
Ultimately, SAPD released the unhoused individual.
When asked about the comments made by SAPD officers, SAPD spokesperson stated “If you are aware of any potential policy violations, we encourage you to report them so that they can be properly reviewed. As with all allegations of misconduct, we take them seriously and follow up accordingly.”
Councilwoman Jessie Lopez stated, “Any form of misinformation or disinformation—especially from individuals in positions of authority—is not only unhelpful but also detrimental to the trust between our community and those who serve it.”
Lopez added that she will follow up with the city manager in regard to the “purge” comment.
The records request for QOLT footage initially asked for 3 months worth of footage but after SAPD responded stating that approximately six thousand individual videos were located, Inadvertent scaled down the request to just about a dozen. The records request was made before a unanimous vote last month where the city council approved a first reading of an ordinance targeting the unhoused.
“Enforcement of the anti-camping ordinance will not be limited to QOLT. All officers will be responsible for enforcement,” stated SAPD spokesperson Natalie Garcia.
The vote comes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Grants Pass decision, a landmark ruling that officially banned camping in public spaces, largely seen as targeting the unhoused.
In a city with the largest amount of unhoused residents in all of Orange County, that has kept its police among its primary responses to its most vulnerable neighbors, it is not anomalous that decision makers are in-step with each other on targeting the unhoused.
For now, it is apparent that in Santa Ana, the word “neighbor” does not extend to its most vulnerable residents.
Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua reminisces on her time working for the County of Orange. December 17th, 2024. Source: City of Santa Ana