DATE: February 20, 2024
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: John Zanoni, Sheriff-Coroner-Public Administrator
Kirk Haynes, Chief Probation Officer
SUBJECT: Second Hearing for Amendment of County Ordinance Code, Chapter 10.66, “Military Equipment Use Policy”
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Conduct second hearing and adopt proposed ordinance, which amends Chapter 10.66, “Military Equipment Use Policy” to Title 10, Public Peace, Morals and Welfare, to the Ordinance Code of the County of Fresno; and waive reading of the Ordinance in its entirety.
REPORT
Approval of the recommended action will conduct a second hearing and adopt an ordinance to amend Chapter 10.66 Military Equipment Use Policy to the County Ordinance Code. This item comes before your Board following the first hearing on February 6, 2024 to amend Chapter 10.66 of the Ordinance Code of the County of Fresno (Ordinance Code) to add the Probation Department, authorize the Probation Department to obtain and use military equipment, as defined by Assembly Bill (AB) 481, and the Sheriff’s Office’s Military Equipment Use Policy to increase the number of approved drones under the updated policy. Approval of the recommended action allows the Sheriff’s Office and Probation Department to comply with Government Code section 7070 et. seq. The Board of Supervisors of the County of Fresno is the governing body of each of the law enforcement agencies of the County of Fresno. Therefore, AB 481 requires law enforcement agencies to obtain approval of their applicable governing body, by adoption of a military equipment use policy by ordinance, and to make certain determinations, which were adopted by the Board at the first hearing on February 6, 2024. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
There is no alternative action, as the approval of this item is required to comply with AB 481.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no additional Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. The purchase of the new drones will be funded out of Federal Asset Forfeiture Treasury Fund 0095, Subclass 17665 for the Sheriff’s Office. Maintenance costs are included in the Sheriff-Coroner-Public Administrator’s FY 2023-24 Adopted Budget Org 3111 and will be included in future budget requests.
DISCUSSION:
On September 20, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 481 into law, adding Chapter 12.8, “Funding, Acquisition, and Use of Military Equipment,” to Division 7 of Title of the Government Code (§ 7070 through and including § 7075) relating to the use of military equipment (defined herein) by law enforcement agencies, which for the County are the Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney’s Office and the County Probation Department as stated in the attached Ordinance.
On January 1, 2022 AB 481 became effective with the intent of the State Legislature for governing bodies that oversee law enforcement agencies to have in place legally enforceable safeguards, including transparency, oversight and accountability measures, before such law enforcement agencies fund, acquire, or use military equipment. Since the Board of Supervisors of the County of Fresno is the governing body for each of the law enforcement agencies in the County, including the Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney’s Office and the Probation Department, AB 481 requires law enforcement agencies to obtain approval by adoption of a military use equipment use policy by ordinance at a regular open meeting of the Board of Supervisors. Thereafter, the Board will need to annually review the ordinance and either disapprove or renew the authorization for a type of military equipment or amend the military equipment use policy if it determines, based on an annual military equipment report prepared by the applicable law enforcement agencies, that the military equipment does not comply with standards for approval described in the law.
On August 8, 2023, your Board adopted County Ordinance Code, Chapter 10.66, “Military Equipment Use Policy,” which established Military Equipment Use policies for the Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’s Office. At the time of adoption of the Ordinance, the Probation Department believed that it did not have any military equipment, so the Probation Department did not adopt a Military Equipment Use Policy, and was not included in the Ordinance. After the adoption of the Ordinance, the Probation Department became aware that certain specialty impact munition (SIM) weapons, which the Probation Department uses for training only, and two Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), more commonly known as drones, which the Probation Department is not yet using, but are intended to be used for community engagement outreach and social media, qualify as military equipment.
The Probation Department would now like to adopt a military equipment use policy, so that it may acquire and use military equipment, as defined by AB 481. This policy will apply to its SIM weapons, which it only uses for scenario-based training for its officers. The Probation Department also intends to acquire additional and use drones to locate and identify suspects and scenes documentation. On July 7, 2023, Fresno Police Department (Fresno PD) with Clovis Police Department, Fresno County Probation, and Fresno County District Attorney (multi-agency partnership application partners) applied for the Organized Retail Theft (ORT) Prevention Grant Program through Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC). On September 14, 2023, BSCC awarded Fresno PD and the multi-agency partnership $23,663,194. On December 14, 2023, Fresno PD brought the grant award before its City Council, and it was accepted. The Probation Department is currently working on taking the grant awarded to the Board on the first available date within the agenda item processing deadlines. Out of the total grant award, the Probation Department was allocated $1,089,975. The Probation Department plans to purchase a total of four (4) drones utilizing the allocated grant funds once the grant award is accepted by the Board.
The Sheriff's Office currently uses drones for the purpose of enhancing air to ground law enforcement support and emergency operations. The Sheriff's Office has Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) trained personnel who are collaterally assigned to operate the drones in support of locating and apprehending wanted subjects, missing persons, and for other search and rescue missions. Further, the drones are used for any task that can best be accomplished from the air in an efficient and effective manner, with due regard to the protections of the Constitution of the United States of America and the State of California. The Sheriff’s Office currently has a quantity of 14 drones, with expansion to 20, under its policy previously approved by the Board. If its updated military equipment use policy is approved, the Sheriff’s Office seeks to expand the number of UAS from 20 to 44, to be used for law enforcement purposes, including assisting deputies to search for missing persons, natural and manmade disaster response, crime scene photography, tactical incidents and life preservation missions, and allied agency response.
The District Attorney’s Office does not request changes to its Military Equipment Use Policy at this time.
On February 6, 2024, your Board conducted the first hearing to amend Chapter 10.66 of the Ordinance Code of the County of Fresno (Ordinance Code) to add the Probation Department, and authorize the Probation Department to Obtain and use Military Equipment, as defined by AB 481 and update the Sheriff’s Office’s Military Equipment Use Policy to increase the number of approved drones under the updated policy.
Approval of the recommended action will adopt a military equipment use policy for the Probation Department and amend the military equipment use policy for the Sheriff’s Office in accordance with AB 481.
The summary of the recommended ordinance amendment has been posted and published in the Business Journal on February 9, 2024 in accordance with Government Code § 25124(b)(1).
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #4, February 6, 2024
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Ordinance
Ordinance - Redline
Sheriff’s AB 481 Policy
Probation’s AB Policy
CAO ANALYST:
Fine Nai