As part of its police demilitarization work, AFSC's California Healing Justice Program spent the past year and a half supporting AB 481 implementation efforts in communities across California. Through this survey across the state, AFSC witnessed firsthand several law enforcement agencies take advantage of ambiguous language to evade the transparency and accountability afforded by the new state law.
AB 1486, authored by Assemblymember Jones-Sawyer and sponsored by AFSC, clarifies language from AB 481 to give communities the full transparency California deserves. Some of these clarifications include:
- Clarifies community engagement should occur prior to annual reconsideration of agency's policy, ensuring that community input may inform deliberations of local legislators on the military equipment use policies
- Clarifies need for agencies to report on holding and use of assault weapons, regardless of "standard issue" designation
- Clarifies inclusion of all long range acoustic devices, not just LRAD branded devices
- Clarifies requirement for "authorized uses" for equipment policies, making clear that these are situations in which the equipment is authorized for deployment, display or discharge (rather than the users of the equipment, or only when the equipment is discharged)
Please contact us if your organization would like to support AB 1486 and call on the state for clarifying language to support transparency and accountability around use of militarized equipment.