The Sacramento Police Department plans to ask the City Council to approve its updated military equipment policy and annual usage report next month.
For the first time since it began releasing the state-mandated reports, the police department listed race, gender and age for most of the incidents in which officers used items classified as military equipment.
A council committee discussed the issue on Tuesday, but didn’t forward it to the full council in order to give the Sacramento Community Police Review Commission more time to review public feedback. The commission held a community meeting on the policy on Monday, so members requested an opportunity to complete a report and make recommendations based on its findings.
Keyan Bliss, who chairs the commission, urged the law and legislation committee to prioritize community voices when reviewing the report.
“I think it’s more of the culture of Sacramento Police Department’s leadership that seeks to rush this even as we were trying to move this meeting and really expand the time that we had to engage community members much earlier,” Bliss said.
A state law approved three years ago — Assembly Bill 481 — requires police to get annual council approval to fund, acquire and use items classified as military equipment, such as drones and armored vehicles. The law also says military equipment decisions should be based on meaningful public input.
Police Capt. Clay Buchanan, who leads the administrative services division, said the department included detailed demographic data this year based on recommendations it received. Officers used military equipment in 324 incidents between May 2023 and April 2024, according to the report. In the 210 cases officers used it to locate, detain or arrest a person, the department listed race, age and gender.
Council member Katie Valenzuela was among those who have repeatedly requested the information. She raised concerns over how police used military equipment against Black people in about 53% of the 210 incidents. She also pointed out about a third of cases involved people under 25 years old.
“I appreciate the department’s willingness to be transparent about that because I’m sure you noticed that, too, and probably put these charts out there saying ‘ugh, this isn’t gonna look great,’” Valenzuela said. “But I think this is how we start an important conversation.”
As part of the annual update, police are requesting approval to buy about $95,000 worth of military equipment, including drones, grenades and shotgun ammunition. The total is about a quarter of the $360,000 request the department presented to the committee last year.
The department also reported fewer corrections to its inventory compared to last year. Through 12 audits, the department found it undercounted or left out six types of equipment, Buchanan said.
Last August, then-Deputy Chief Norman Leong told the committee that the department was considering doing audits quarterly instead of annually. At the time, the department reported it miscounted or omitted 24 types of equipment, including 200 rifles.
The law and legislation committee plans to revisit the latest military equipment policy and report on Aug. 20 and send it to the full council for discussion on Aug. 27. The police department plans to keep an online survey about the policy open until Aug. 5.
Follow us for more stories like this
CapRadio provides a trusted source of news because of you. As a nonprofit organization, donations from people like you sustain the journalism that allows us to discover stories that are important to our audience. If you believe in what we do and support our mission, please donate today.
Donate Today
