The Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) went over their annual military equipment use reports from the years 2022-2025 at a Santa Ana City Council meeting on Aug. 19.
The reports were under review due to the department failing to present them to the city council and the community during the respective years. These actions were in direct violation of Assembly Bill (AB) 481, passed in 2021.
AB 481 requires law enforcement agencies to gain approval from their local governing body for the acquisition and continued use of previously acquired military equipment. Police departments have to create an annual military equipment report that must be presented to the local governing body and the community.
The purpose of AB 481 was to increase transparency and accountability as well as implement safeguards for the public. The bill text mentions that the use of military equipment by police puts the public’s safety and wellbeing at risk. Therefore the public must be informed on how their police departments use military equipment in the community.
“That’s three years of no transparency, three years of no accountability and three years in which military equipment could have come through this council without any oversight,” Bulmaro Vicente, political and policy director of Chispa OC said. “If the police department cannot even comply with basic transparency law, how can we trust them to responsibly or legally use equipment they are asking you to approve today?”
Chief of Police Robert Rodriguez gave reasons for why the department failed to present the reports. Additionally, Rodriguez said that SAPD did keep track of their inventory and usage of military equipment during that time.
“In regards to the administrative oversight and why it happened, there could be various reasons why it happened, but most importantly, it was a different administration at the time,” Rodriguez said. “We were transitioning from a different leadership at the PD, but not just at the PD, but also at the city with uh, I believe in 2024, we had three city managers.”
Rodriguez became Chief of Police in December 2024 and mentioned how he made it a top priority to release equipment reports to the council and public.
“Once I took over and got appointed as permanent chief, there’s documentation where I requested this item be brought forward, actually on the day that I was appointed,” Rodriguez said.
Police Commander Mat Sorenson went over the multiple reports in a short presentation and highlighted how rarely the department deploys military equipment as a use of force option.
According to the presentation, there were 128,856 calls for service from May 1, 2024 to April 30, 2025. Military equipment was deployed for 30 of those calls, which indicates that military equipment was used 0.023% of the time. This was a significant decrease compared to the data from May 2023 to May 2024 where military equipment was deployed 0.054% of the time.
In the 2023-2024 report, SAPD mentioned that they were continuing their research of Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) with the hopes to develop their own system. In the 2024-2025 report, they appealed for the council to approve a request for the implementation of a UAS program and $250,000 to purchase drones.
Contrary to a community meeting held by the police department earlier this month, SAPD did not request for drones or equipment during this council meeting. Rodriguez said that the request will be presented at a future city council meeting.
Request or not, the public brought up their concerns with the increased militarization of the police department.
“When police militarization is normalized, the presumption of threat becomes normalized as well,” said a practicing lawyer who chose to stay anonymous. “And when a state assumes its citizens are threatening, it undermines its own authority and in fact moves closer to authoritarianism.”
Councilmember Jonathan Ryan Hernandez shared his opposition to approving future requests for more military equipment.
“Since we have adopted militarized equipment, we are seeing the public’s trust erode. We have never seen our department in a more vulnerable position, where we are struggling with the community’s trust,” Hernandez said. “We are seeing millions of dollars in misconduct lawsuits, paid out quite regularly.”
According to the Voice of OC, the City of Santa Ana paid out around $24 million in lawsuits against the police department since 2011.
“I’m very worried that if we continue the practice of utilizing militarized equipment, the public will continue to be brutalized, and liabilities will continue,” Hernandez said.
SAPD’s annual report passed 4-3. Mayor Valerie Amezcua and Councilmembers Phil Bacerra, David Penaloza and Thai Viet Phan voted in favor. Councilmembers Jonathan Ryan Hernandez, Jessie Lopez and Benjamin Vazquez voted against it.
Alejandra Rodriguez Zepeda is a News Intern for the summer 2025 quarter. She can be reached at alejar16@uci.edu.
Edited by Annabelle Aguirre