Pasadena Police Oversight Panel to Take Up Military Equipment Report Thursday

The Pasadena Police Department presents its annual military equipment report to the city’s civilian police oversight commission at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10. It is the first of three city body reviews of the department’s drones, armored vehicles and less-lethal munitions before the report reaches the City Council on Sept. 29.

The report covers July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026. It puts spending on equipment California classifies as military at about $473,614, less than 0.4% of a police operating budget of $122,720,771.

The department also set out what it wants next: It estimates a replacement and expansion of its unmanned aircraft program at $250,000 to $400,000; a throwable reconnaissance robot at $20,000 to $60,000 and explosive breaching material for the Special Weapons and Tactics team at $7,000 to $12,000. The unmanned aircraft and breaching proposals would need City Council authorization, and the department describes the robot as still under assessment.

California Assembly Bill 481, in effect since Jan. 1, 2022, requires police agencies to inventory equipment the statute defines as military, report each year on how it was used, and obtain their governing body’s approval to keep it. The City Council approved the department’s Military Equipment Use Policy, numbered 711, on June 20, 2022.

The report is organized around 16 categories. Pasadena holds equipment in nine of them and none in seven, meaning it has no tracked armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft or long-range acoustic devices. The inventory includes a tactical robot and four indoor drones, a BearCat armored rescue vehicle and a mobile command center. It also holds lock-defeating shotgun rounds, a .50-caliber precision rifle, flashbangs, tear gas and pepper-ball systems, 40mm launchers and three Bell OH-58 helicopters. The helicopters are the only items that came from the military, acquired at no cost and valued at $92,290 each.

Commander William Grisafe is scheduled to present the report.

The department reported 11 Special Weapons and Tactics call-outs of the BearCat during the year, along with two patrol deployments, 32 training runs and four community events. The mobile command center went out 27 times. The drones flew three times in training, for roughly three minutes of flight, and the tactical robot was used four times, also in training.

The .50-caliber rifle was deployed twice, once as overwatch for the Rose Parade and once beforehand to confirm the operator’s accuracy, which used 15 rounds.

Officers used 33 flashbangs, 28 in training and five in Special Weapons and Tactics operations. Chemical agents, pepper balls and 40mm impact munitions were not deployed operationally, and neither was the breaching shotgun.

The three helicopters logged 1,510.6 flight hours at a cost of $410,067 to fly and maintain, the largest single expenditure in the report. About 20% of that is paid by Foothill Air Support Team contract cities. They also drew the only complaints the department reported about military equipment during the period, seven, all about noise. The department reported no violations or misuse of military equipment.

The figures the department reported for the previous period, which ran 13 months, were $370,835 against an operating budget of roughly $111.1 million.

The two capabilities the department has proposed adding to the policy have already been before the commission. Commissioners reviewed the unmanned aircraft policy July 9 and the energy assisted breaching policy Aug. 13 and recommended both advance to the City Council, which is scheduled to take up both in September. Energy assisted breaching is the use of explosive material to force a barrier, and the department describes it as reserved for rare situations such as barricaded suspects, hostage incidents and high-risk warrant service.

The commission advises rather than decides. The 11-seat body, with one seat vacant as of the meeting agenda, makes recommendations to the chief of police, the city manager and the City Council, and the Council holds final authority over the military equipment policy.

Residents may speak for three minutes each at Thursday’s meeting in the Council Chambers, Room S249, at 100 N. Garfield Ave. Speakers file a card at https://www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/public-comment/, and the meeting can also be joined at https://cityofpasadena.net/cczoom. Written comment sent to CPOC@cityofpasadena.net before the meeting becomes part of the record. Translation is available with at least 24 hours’ notice at (626) 744-4141. Commissioners also take up an ad hoc committee report on automated license plate reader policy.

The department presented the same report at a community meeting Aug. 27. The Public Safety Committee reviews it Sept. 16, and the City Council takes it up Sept. 29.

Thursday, Sept. 10, 6 p.m. Community Police Oversight Commission, Pasadena City Hall Council Chambers, Room S249, 100 N. Garfield Ave., Pasadena. For more call (626) 744-4141 or visit https://www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/community-police-oversight-commission/. Admission: free; no ticket required.