The Chico Police Department summarizes both the past year’s use and next year’s funding for Military Equipment, including drones and other remotely operated devices, during the Annual Military Equipment Use Report.

On Monday, at a community engagement meeting held in the Old Municipal Building, Captain Omar Pena of Chico PD presented an itemized list of equipment proposed to be included in the 2026 military equipment use policy.

“The goal of all this equipment is to help us do our job with the least amount of force possible,” Pena said.

A majority of the department’s requests are for drones and other remote operated devices, as well as new vans that can be used as mobile command centers to launch and control drones in a wider variety of situations. 

Last year, Chico PD responded to 154 incidents with military equipment, including 144 drone responses.

The department’s requests for military equipment must be publicly broadcast to the city council and the public in accordance with California law before they can be brought before the Chico City Council for a formal hearing on March 3. This hearing will finalize what gets approved and what does not. 

In the interest of transparency, community members were invited to participate by writing down questions, which were read at the end of the meeting. Chief of Police Billy Aldridge facilitated the questions. 

Many attendees voiced their concerns about the presence of new military equipment being acquired in the face of growing tension, locally and nationally, in response to the Trump Administration’s immigration policies and the increasingly violent nature of ICE raids. 

Aldridge made it clear that Chico PD is committed to protecting First  Amendment freedoms. He said the requested equipment is not targeted at crowd control and he doesn’t consider rioting to be an issue for Chico. 

Caden Huntley can be reached at [email protected]