Rules Committee delays vote on San Francisco police military-equipment policy after hours of public comment

SAN FRANCISCO — The Rules Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Monday delayed action on a proposed city ordinance that would require Board approval of the Police Department’s policy governing acquisition, funding and use of certain law-enforcement equipment under California’s AB 481.

Chair Aaron Peskin, chair of the Rules Committee, said the police department had revised its AB 481 grid but that ‘‘we still have some outstanding questions’’ about several categories, including whether robots could be authorized to use deadly force, who may authorize deployments, how to define a ‘‘high-risk tactical situation,’’ the allowable uses of LRAD acoustic devices and whether the proposed $10,000,000 restocking threshold is too high. Peskin scheduled a follow-up meeting with department staff for Wednesday and proposed continuing the item so the committee could review responses.

The ordinance drew extensive public comment. Arthur Koch of the San Francisco Friends Meeting urged the committee to ‘‘fully define authorized use for all weapons, especially assault weapons’’ and warned against treating the city as ‘‘a military.’’ Jennifer Tu of the American Friends Service Committee urged the city to include assault rifles in the reportable inventory and to set annual reporting to align with the budget cycle so the department can account for personnel, training and maintenance costs. John Lindsay Poland, also with the American Friends Service Committee, criticized a proposed classification that would make fully automatic machine guns and submachine guns ‘‘standard issue’’ and said other departments include such weapons in AB 481 policies rather than exempting them.

Speakers raised concerns about equity and deployment patterns. ‘‘Military equipment is more frequently deployed in low income black and brown communities,’’ Arthur Koch said, calling for clearer limits. Other callers asked that robots not be authorized to deliver deadly force, that LRAD not be used for crowd control, and that the $10 million restocking limit be lowered.

After public testimony the committee unanimously approved Chair Peskin’s motion to continue the matter to the Nov. 14 Rules Committee meeting to give the department time to respond to the questions and to allow the committee time for further drafting. Supervisors Connie Chan and Rafael Mandelman joined Peskin in the roll-call vote.

Next steps: The committee will reconvene the item on Nov. 14, when staff said they will provide the police department’s written responses and an updated grid for committee review.