OCEANSIDE — Over the past year, the Oceanside Police Department largely refrained from using items in its military-grade weapons inventory, which includes semi-automatic rifles, submachine guns, explosives and drones, according to the department’s annual report.
Assembly Bill 481, which took effect in 2022, mandates that law enforcement agencies across California develop policies and include an inventory of their military-grade equipment. Under the law, police agencies must provide their city councils with information on the purchase, use, and funding sources of any equipment classified as military-grade.
On Aug. 7, the City Council unanimously approved OPD’s military equipment report for the third consecutive year since the law’s implementation. The report covers May 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024.
Assistant Chief of Police Taurino Valdovinos presented the report to the council, detailing the different categories of equipment classified as military-grade, their usage, and the quantities. He emphasized that the police department was not requesting to purchase or acquire any new equipment when the City Council received the report.
“I would like to just make it clear that we are not requesting any new equipment. We’re not requesting funding for any new equipment. This is simply to report our current equipment,” Valdovinos said. “We have made no additions to our inventory during this last period.”
The department has approximately 15 drones, including seven smaller drones (or robots) used to search inside buildings before sending in officers and one tethered drone for large-scale events. Valdovinos said there were 552 drone flights last year.
Valdovinos noted that the department has a small, tactical robot that searches building interiors and delivers items during hostage negotiations. However, the robot was not deployed last year.
The police department also did not use any of its explosive materials, including blasting caps, detonator cords, or explosive sheets. It did not employ its kinetic breaching tool or other equipment for breaking through doors.
Valdovinos said the SWAT team and covert rescue team did not discharge their weapons, including AR-15 semi-automatic rifles (SWAT only), MP5 submachine guns (exclusive to covert rescue) and .308 Winchester rifles (SWAT sniper team).
Additionally, the police department did not use any of its chemical agents or less-lethal weaponry.
OPD deployed its Lenco Bearcat armored rescue vehicle 19 times and its crisis negotiation vehicle 15 times last year. Both cars were primarily used for pre-planned SWAT missions.
Valdovinos noted that the only change to the inventory last year involved transferring ownership of its mobile command vehicle to the fire department, leaving the police without one. The City Council approved the purchase of a new mobile command vehicle in late June, which Valdovinos said will be included in next year’s report.
Several less-lethal weapons were used last year, including pepper ball launchers once, 40-mm less-lethal launchers once, and beanbag shotguns five times. Valdovinos said these tools were used during patrols “to neutralize combative suspects.”
The department also used two flashbangs last year.
Oceanside resident Jimmy Knott suggested acquiring less-lethal equipment, such as nets and emphasized the need for additional training on using military-grade equipment.
