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The Menlo Park Police Department gave its annual military equipment report to the City Council at its June 11 meeting. The police department is not seeking to acquire any new equipment defined by state law as military equipment, and there was only one incident within the past year where the police department was required to use military equipment within Menlo Park.
The Menlo Park City Council unanimously approved the resolution renewing the Military Equipment Use Ordinance, and the Menlo Park Military Equipment Use Policy. The annual update is required by state law.
California’s Assembly Bill 481, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September 2021, requires a law enforcement agency to obtain approval from its governing body before taking actions relating to the funding, acquisition or use of military equipment for law enforcement purposes. The bill requires governing bodies to annually review and renew Military Equipment Use Policies and ordinances at a public meeting.
The list of equipment defined as military equipment under California law encompasses 15 categories, and includes remotely piloted aerial or ground vehicles, armored vehicles, Humvees, weaponized aircraft or vehicles, firearms and ammunition of .50 caliber or greater, water cannons, assault weapons, stun grenades or “flashbangs”, “pepper balls”, “tear gas” and more.
A police department staff report says that “it is important to note that the Menlo Park Police Department does not possess any tactical equipment that it has obtained from the military, nor does it possess any equipment that was designed uniquely for military use.”
The report states that the purpose of the military equipment that it does own is to “provide a less lethal option for law enforcement to use where the employment of lethal force is prohibited or undesirable, and the use of chemical agents (or impact munitions) provides a safer alternative to gaining compliance.”
“We do have a couple of items that fall into the military equipment definition, the same items from last year listed in the military equipment report,” said Cmdr. Wilson Lau in a presentation to the council.
The Menlo Park Police Department currently possesses the following military equipment: two Tippman PepperBall launchers, 250 Live-X PepperBall projectiles, two PENN Arms PLG65 40mm launchers and 50 Defense Technology 40mm Exact Impact sponge rounds.
The report also states that the police department is not seeking to acquire any additional equipment, other than possibly replenishing ammunition if it is used in a future incident in the next fiscal year.
“This equipment remains the same equipment that has been available to handle high-risk situations that occasionally arise in this jurisdiction up to this point in time, as part of the regular public safety business of this agency,” according to the report.
State rules require that police departments not only provide an inventory of military equipment, but indicate if they were deployed in the last year, or if the department received any complaints about the equipment.
The department has not received any complaints about the equipment. There was one incident in the previous year where Menlo Park Police were required to use “military equipment.”
“A person was running in the streets. … Officers arrived on scene and the individual fled and attempted to force into a residence,” said Lau. “We deployed the 40 millimeter less lethal launcher (a launcher that shoots sponge rounds), and we were able to take the subject into custody.”
The Menlo Park Police Department also participates in a regional Special Weapons and Tactics team, which possesses additional types of military equipment. This equipment includes remotely piloted ground robots, armored command and control vehicles, explosive breaching apparatuses, automatic rifles, flashbang grenades, tear gas, smoke grenades and 40mm projectile launchers.
According to the staff report, “the equipment possessed by SWAT is not purchased, owned, or maintained by the Menlo Park Police Department, but such equipment could be used within the city of Menlo Park if SWAT is deployed, and such equipment is utilized for an appropriate incident.”
“None of those items were purchased by, or are stored here at the Menlo Park Police Department,” said Lau.
Menlo Park’s Military Equipment Use Ordinance was originally approved in May 2022.
