The Chico City Council voted Tuesday to approve a military equipment request submitted by the Chico Police Department. Assembly Bill 481 requires the department to submit a report once a year outlining its use of military equipment from the prior year, as well as any new military equipment it requests.

The term “military equipment” is somewhat of a misnomer, as the equipment is not purchased from the military. Most of it’s commercially available and designed specifically for law enforcement use, according to the most recent AB 481 report.

“The law was passed at the top of the George Floyd hysteria,” Councilmember Tom van Overbeek said. “People need to understand that this is an arbitrary list of things. Most of them you can buy as a civilian.”

Items classified as “military equipment” include drones, command vehicles and less-than-lethal firearms, such as rubber bullets. It also includes high-power rifles, long-range acoustic devices, flash-bang grenades and tools for breaching structures, among other equipment and ammunition.

The approval of the equipment request doesn’t necessarily mean it will all be purchased. The police department’s budget is set by the city council in June, and as in the past, it could end up that approved items don’t fit within the final budget.

“Our decision tonight to support this is not necessarily [about] funding. It’s going to be a really tight budget,” said Dale Bennet, councilmember and Vice Mayor.

Multiple council members noted that the police department receives nearly half of the city council’s yearly budget. 

“During budget season, that’s when I really want to advocate for not giving a crazy amount of money to the police department to spend on whatever toys they want,” Councilmember Katie Hawley said.

The council vote effectively allows the police department to use funds from its allocated budget on the approved military equipment. The budget may not include enough money for the military equipment, but the department can still spend any of its excess funds on equipment that’s not restricted by AB 481, Hawley said.

The city council could have adjusted the request and removed any specific equipment it desired before the vote. 

Hawley motioned to bring the approval of the police department’s requests to a vote, with the exception of the seven SAR-15 patrol rifles. Councilmember Bryce Goldstein made a separate motion to vote on the department’s request, asking to further exclude the three command vehicles. Neither motion passed, and in the end, the full request was approved 4-3.

Councilmembers Hawley, Goldstein and Addison Winslow voted against the proposal, while Councilmembers Bennet, van Overbeek, O’Brien and Mayor Kasey Reynolds voted in favor of approval. O’Brien formerly served as the chief of the police department. 

Van Overbeek pushed back against Hawley’s assertion that the police don’t need more high-powered firearms.

The department currently has 73 SAR-15 rifles listed in its inventory. The Chico police are budgeted for 106 police officers, according to the department’s recruitment page. 

“This is an example of people second-guessing the police that don’t know what they’re talking about,” van Overbeek said. “So, I can go to any gun store and buy a semi-automatic rifle. So we’re going to deny the police the same weapons that civilians have? That’s completely and utterly nonsensical.”

During the meeting, Winslow said previous funding to the police department for its equipment have come at the cost of potential improvement to Chico’s roads.

In April of 2023, Chico implemented Measure H, which increased the city’s sales tax from 7.25% to 8.25%. One year after the increase, 72% of the approximately $24 million in added revenue went to roadway improvements, according to a press release from the city.

“We’re almost down to about one-third of what we had in 2023 for streets and roads,” Winslow told The Orion. “I don’t think any department should be getting anything close to what would be their wildest dreams for equipment. We all have to exercise some sort of scarcity sometimes, and I think the police department has a whole different concept and relationship with scarcity to the rest of the city.” 

Captain Omar Peña presented a slideshow to the council that highlighted parts of their AB 481 report. 

This year, among other items, the police department is requesting three different types of heavy-duty vehicles. The most expensive, at over $500,000, is an aerial systems vehicle, designed to support drone deployments.

“Chief Aldridge was able to point back at a couple of instances where they were working in the foothills, collaborating with the county on some serious cases in adverse weather conditions,” Hawley said. “This [aerial systems vehicle] should allow officers to work more efficiently and to bring more gear.”

Police Chief Billy Aldridge spoke to The Orion about the importance of the drone command vehicle. 

“The one that we really, really have to get is for our [drone deployment] team. Those guys have so much equipment now that we’ve built out that unit. They’re shoving it in the back of a Tahoe, and when we get to a scene, they’re setting it out under a pop-up tent,” Aldridge said.

He also spoke about the merits of its drone program. Drones fall within the scope of AB 481.

“We have one example where you see the guy on the drone holding the gun and waiting for the officers. We take the drone, swoop down at him and give him a command because it has a loudspeaker on it,” Aldridge said. “He threw the gun down and then came out to us.”

Community members were each given two minutes to speak before the council deliberated on the approval of the AB 481 report. 

Julian Zener is with a local organization called Concerned Community for Justice. 

“Our group, CC4J, is painted by some people as being anti-police,” Zener said. “We’re very much in favor of wanting a safe community with excellent work from the police.” 

He spoke about the merits of robotic equipment, emphasizing how it can allow the police to breach a building remotely. It eliminates the need to kick down doors and rush in with weapons.

“Just because it’s called military equipment doesn’t mean it’s bad,” Zener said. “Our major concern about the new request is for the incident command vehicles. Chico is a pretty small college town. If there are no major uprisings here, why do we need this large equipment?”

Sean Shanks can be reached at [email protected].