By Suzie Ziegler
OAKDALE, Calif. — Two Oakdale police officers are making waves in their community with their musical talent. The duo came together after Oakdale Police Chief Jerry Ramar heard music coming from the department’s report writing room, reported ABC 10.
“I found out it was Officer Jefferson Yega. He was playing some video that he had produced and learned of his talent that way,” Ramar said.
Yega has been singing since the age of 11, starting with gospel music at church. It gave Ramar an idea. The chief suggested that Yega do a music video with fellow Officer Jordan Tapia, a trained classical pianist.
“My intent of having the video put out was to just show the community that these police officers are people. They have more in their life than just police work,” Ramar said.
Tapia has been playing piano since he was five years old and spent years with classical music. In high school, he discovered rock n’ roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis and the blues, according to the report.
“That was really the first time when I was like, ‘Wow, the piano can be fun’ and I want to play just like him,” Tapia told ABC 10.
It made Tapia and Yega the perfect team to make a music video. The video, filmed at the Oakdale Rodeo Grounds, has Yega singing the country hit “Best Shot” by Jimmie Allen. The video later cuts to Tapia, who plays a rag time piece he wrote himself called “Oakdale Boogie.”
Oakdale Police shared the video on Facebook and received an outpouring of support from the community.
“Online, I can’t believe just how positive the comments are,” Tapia said.
“I felt it was a really good way to reach out to the community and show them that police officers do have a life outside of policing,” Yega said.
But don’t worry. Neither officer plans to hang up their uniforms for the big time.
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