Committee continues police equipment policy review after community calls for narrower authorized uses

The Rules Committee on Oct. 10 continued consideration of an ordinance to amend the administrative code so the Board would review and approve a policy governing acquisition and use of certain law-enforcement equipment consistent with state law (referred to in the record as Assembly Bill 481).

Police Department staff described edits incorporated since a July presentation, posted a current inventory of equipment obtained between 1991 and 2021 and said the draft included reporting requirements intended to satisfy AB 481. Staff noted they were seeking legal guidance about whether certain standard-issued weapons should be included in the inventory and acknowledged some tactical unit orders are not publicly posted for operational security reasons.

Committee members asked for clearer, SFPD-specific language defining "authorized uses" across equipment categories. Public callers from community organizations including American Friends Service Committee, GLIDE, All of Us or None and Legal Services for Prisoners with Children urged the board to remove military-grade equipment from SFPD's authorized roster, to add strong prohibitions on crowd-control uses and to ensure the policy safeguards civil rights and public safety.

After public comment the committee voted to continue the item one week to give staff and legal team time to reconcile the proposed redlines and follow up on questions about authorized uses and the inventory.

What happens next: The police department and city attorney will review the proposed edits and return a revised draft for the Oct. 31 Rules Committee meeting. Community groups asked for further changes; the committee did not adopt a final policy on Oct. 10.