ESCONDIDO — For the fourth consecutive year, the Escondido City Council has approved a policy governing the police department’s use of military-grade equipment, as required under a 2021 state law intended to increase transparency and oversight of law enforcement agencies.
During its May 14 meeting, the council voted 4-0 to approve the department’s 2024 annual report. Councilmember Judy Fitzgerald was absent.
Assembly Bill 481, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and effective in 2022, requires police agencies to develop detailed use policies for military-grade equipment and submit annual reports on inventory, usage, purchases and public complaints.
Local governing bodies must review and vote on the reports to determine if departments comply with the law.
The Escondido Police Department first adopted its policy in 2022 and has renewed it annually since. Interim Police Chief Ryan Banks said the department’s equipment is used with “careful consideration and intention” to protect the public through “exceptional service.”
The equipment is only deployed “when there is no reasonable alternative that can achieve officer and civilian safety,” Banks said during his presentation to the council.
The department’s military-grade inventory includes drones, a robotic platform, incident command vehicles, armored personnel carriers, breaching equipment, patrol and SWAT rifles, flashbangs, long-range acoustic devices, 40-millimeter launchers, and chemical agents such as tear gas.
Banks noted the inventory does not include mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles (MRAPs), Humvees, tracked armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft, firearms or ammunition exceeding .50 caliber, or explosive projectile launchers.
In 2023, the department conducted 211 drone missions totaling 53.83 flight hours. Drones were used to locate suspects who had fled crime scenes and were hiding nearby, according to the report.
Other uses included incident command vehicles (13 deployments), breaching equipment (8), pepperball launchers (17 times, plus 6 display-only incidents), and chemical agents (3 uses). The department reported an average of six uses per month for its armored personnel carriers.
Some equipment, including the robotic platform, patrol and SWAT rifles, flashbangs, and the long-range acoustic device, was not used at all in the past year.
Banks also updated the council on equipment performance, noting that a previously approved model of pepperball launcher was found to be inferior to other available brands.
As in the previous year, the police department reported no public complaints regarding its use of military-grade equipment in 2024.
Deputy Mayor Consuelo Martinez praised the department’s transparency and reporting, recalling her initial skepticism before the first policy approval in 2022.
“I feel like we go above and beyond what I would normally expect – and I’m not easy to please,” Martinez said. “I have very high expectations, and you all I think do a really good job with this.”
The department’s full annual report is available here.
