The Sacramento City Council on Tuesday approved an updated military equipment policy in a unanimous vote for the first time since the police department created the rules three years ago.
Council members thanked the police department for incorporating previous recommendations, but also directed it to work with a commission to answer questions such as what consequences officers could face for violating the policy and why proposed purchases are necessary.
A state law passed in 2021 — Assembly Bill 481 — requires police to get annual council approval to fund, acquire and use items classified as military equipment, including drones and armored vehicles. The law also says military equipment decisions should be based on meaningful public input.
Keyan Bliss, chair of the Sacramento Community Police Review Commission, said the department should add language to the policy describing situations when each type of equipment can and can’t be used. The commission also recommended the department add back a section it deleted from the previous version that explained how the policy should consider both the public’s safety and civil rights.
“Beyond just the improvements that it made in using more plain speak and less legal jargon, the department may have overcorrected in simplifying the general orders’ language,” Bliss said.
Police Chief Kathy Lester said the department responded to community feedback from last year requesting making the policy easier to read. She added the department is considering adding links to the document so people can reference listed police manuals and state and federal laws.
“To the point of the public, they won’t have to go and try to dig through policies,” Lester said. “I mean the information is all there, but I totally understand.”
Council members Caity Maple, Katie Valenzuela and Mai Vang, who voted against approving previous policies, said the department has made progress. Valenzuela said new data on race and age in the annual report allows the city to try to correct trends of officers disproportionately using equipment on certain groups.
Police used military equipment against Black people for 53% of the 210 incidents in which the department provided demographic data between May 2023 and April 2024, according to the report. Black people make up 13% of the city’s population.
“Reports like this are supposed to be an opportunity for us to step back and have those conversations,” Valenzuela said. “You know, why is that happening, what decisions are being made?”
The council also approved the department’s plans to buy about $95,000 of new equipment, including drones, grenades and shotgun ammunition. The total is about a quarter of the $360,000 request the department presented last year.
The review commission said the department’s current military equipment inventory is worth more than $2.8 million.
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