As we reported final month, Alameda County sheriff’s deputy David Shelby began blasting Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” on a cellphone in his lapel whereas speaking to activists outdoors a courthouse. Seemed odd, till the officer clearly defined, on digital camera, that he was orchestrating a failsafe ruse to cloak himself from the web.

“You can record all you want, I just know it just can’t be posted on YouTube,” he advised the particular person filming. He was referring to a not-uncommon tactic: Officers use copyrighted music, calculating that YouTube’s automated copyright flagging system will take away the video. Shelby apparently hadn’t seen the social media posts of different officers caught in the act, nor did he anticipate that publications can embed their very own video, nor that individuals can contest copyright flags. The video has now racked up practically 740,000 views on YouTube.

The episode as a substitute set off the Streisand impact from a furious and amused public in YouTube feedback and on Twitter. It seems, his colleagues didn’t just like the look, which they communicated in emails first obtained by Motherboard through FOIA request, and shared with Gizmodo.

“WHYYYYYY?,” sergeant Miguel Campos wrote in an electronic mail to colleagues with a hyperlink to a information story and a quote from Shelby. “I am actually at a loss watching the video,” sheriff’s Deputy Phillip Corvello replied.

“Ugh,” public info officer Sergeant Ray Kelly wrote in an electronic mail to Deputy Sheriff Tyronea Maria Modeste, who replied, “SERIOUSLY!!!??”

In one other, Deputy Sheriff Henry Montigue wrote: “Stay professional and don’t play Taylor Swift!!! Unreal…”

Captain Timothy Schellenberg’s instructed officers to not replay the video at roll name, pleading: “PLEASE DO NOT PLAY THE VIDEO AT MUSTER!”

“Protected rights are a thing!” Captain Melanie Ditzenberger wrote in a widely-circulated electronic mail. “We must never let our protection of laws override those protections.”

In one other electronic mail, public info officer Sergeant Ray Kelly referred to as the incident “unacceptable and not a good look for law enforcement.”

Sergeant Roberto Morales pleaded with the workplace to only do a great job in order that none would wish to resort to “Blank Space.” “Gentlemen, Let’s be smart out there,” he wrote. “Who cares if the public records us. If we are doing the right thing for the right reasons, we will always finish on top. We do not need this type of media coverage. Lets not be YouTube famous or even worse Media Famous.”

Just a few weeks after the story broke, the workplace enacted a Taylor Swift coverage particularly forbidding company members from “purposefully and knowingly, use or broadcast any copyrighted body of work in a manner that will adversely impact the level of professionalism, performance, conduct and productivity that is expected of a peace officer or professional staff member.”

Public info officer Ray Kelly advised Gizmodo that it’s questionable whether or not the division will take disciplinary motion towards Shelby, however assured us that the officer has felt the ache on social media. Maybe it’s not punishment sufficient, although we’ll savor the information that no person desires endlessly tainted Google outcomes.