Berkeley council adopts updated policy permitting limited mutual‑aid helicopters and K‑9 deployments after heated debate

Berkeley City Council on Tuesday adopted a revised policy that removes a 1982 city restriction and allows limited mutual‑aid helicopter and K‑9 deployments with a Watch Commander preapproval and a required post‑deployment reporting framework.

Councilmember Casarwani, who introduced the measure, said the change was intended to remove a procedural bottleneck that can delay response by 20–30 minutes in urgent incidents. “The existing approval process routed through the city manager can consume 20 to 30 minutes in incidents where every minute matters,” Casarwani said, arguing the revision preserves accountability while reducing delay.

Deputy Chief Jen Tate and Captain Oakes, who led the department’s policy work, told council members the resolution keeps explicit prohibitions — including a continued ban on canine use for crowd control — while permitting K‑9 or helicopter assistance for narrow, higher‑risk scenarios such as a violent fleeing felon, a suspect believed to possess a weapon likely to cause serious bodily injury, a residential burglary in progress when there is reason to believe someone may be inside, or to support high‑risk warrant service. Deputy Chief Tate said modern canine tactics emphasize canine handlers controlling dogs on leads and using alert‑only dogs in many searches to reduce risks to bystanders.

The resolution separates authorization (faster operational approval by a watch commander) from accountability (post‑deployment notification to the chief and city manager and inclusion in regular use‑of‑force reporting). Chief Lewis said the change is intended to reduce operational risk to officers and the public when timely regional assets are available.

The item drew extended public comment and opposition from multiple community groups. George Littman, representing the Peace and Justice Commission, urged the council to retain the 1982 ban and instead commission academic study of health and equity impacts, warning the proposal shifts emphasis toward enforcement. “Taken together, the proposed resolution reflects a shift in emphasis from primarily humanitarian and emergency assistance toward authorizing helicopter use as a tactical law‑enforcement tool,” Littman said.

Public commenters raised safety, equity and fiscal concerns and cited historical harms from canine and helicopter deployments; several pointed to statewide reports that find racially disproportionate harms from police canine use. A Police Accountability Board representative said the board submitted a supplemental letter opposing the change and noted it had received no examples where prior city‑manager approval had demonstrably harmed police outcomes.

Councilmembers debated multiple amendments. The final adopted language tightened prohibitions — explicitly banning K‑9 use for encampment abatements and crowd control and narrowing certain authorized uses to “residential burglary in progress” and violent fleeing felons — and replaced the city‑manager preapproval step with Watch Commander authorization and immediate after‑action notifications and reporting. The council split the measure for procedural votes (helicopter language and then K‑9 language) and adopted the resolution with the amendments.

The motion to adopt was moved and seconded from the dais; after separate roll‑call votes on the helicopter and K‑9 provisions and the agreed wording changes, the council carried the resolution. The council also recorded that mutual‑aid deployments would continue to use regional partners and that the city would not create its own helicopter or K‑9 units.

City staff said the change does not add new recurring local costs because the city continues to rely on mutual aid; they flagged that reimbursement rules apply in some mutual‑aid disaster scenarios but not generally for the ad hoc assistance that supplies helicopter or K‑9 assets. The council directed staff to include the deployments in regular reporting and oversight processes.

The council scheduled companion items about related surveillance and use‑of‑force policy matters for further review later this year; the city also set items on chemical agents and other surveillance tools for a future meeting. The amended resolution will be incorporated into the department’s mutual‑aid and use‑of‑force reporting as described by staff.

The council’s action ends the 44‑year‑old procedural requirement while preserving enumerated prohibitions and layered reporting intended to maintain civilian oversight and operational safety.