A look at what military equipment the Sacramento Police Department has and wants this year

Samson Zhang
·4 min read
8

The Sacramento Police Department released draft reports last month detailing the rifles, vehicles, drones and other “military equipment” in its inventory, as mandated by Assembly Bill 481, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in September 2021.

In addition to cataloging $4.5 million of existing equipment, the report also listed requests for $360,000 of new equipment, including 18 M4-89 rifles for the department’s SWAT team. AB 481 requires the department to receive approval from the City Council to acquire new military equipment.

The Sacramento Community Police Review Commission hosted open meetings in July to solicit community input before providing recommendations regarding the equipment to the City Council. The department also encouraged residents to give feedback through an anonymous survey that will stay open until Friday. The survey is available in five languages at bit.ly/sacpd-military-feedback-2023.

Here’s a breakdown of the Sacramento Police Department’s requested and existing military equipment. The data in this story comes from a July 24 draft of the report. A new draft was published Aug. 3 with some quantity and cost updates.

Requested equipment

In addition to replenishing existing inventories, the department is requesting $139,000 in new models of rifles, munitions and drones for fiscal year 2024.

All images in the following graphics were provided in the Sacramento Police Department report.

M4-89 rifles

18 requested for $40,014 / No reported lifespan

Barrier-penetrating pepper spray rounds

50 requested for $1,700 / 5-year lifespan

Training ammunition, 5.56 NATO caliber

1,000 rounds requested for $750 / 15-year lifespan

AR-10 ammunition

6,000 rounds requested for $8,100 / 15-year lifespan

DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise

3 requested for $18,900 / 3- to 5-year lifespan

DJI Avata

1 requested for $1,428 / 3- to 5-year lifespan

DJI Mavic 3 Cine Premium Combo

1 requested for $4,999 / 3- to 5-year lifespan

Launchable pepper spray grenades

50 requested for $2,900 / 5-year lifespan

Launchable tear gas grenades

50 requested for $60,000 / 5-year lifespan

Existing equipment

The Sacramento Police Department’s existing inventory includes hundreds of high-caliber rifles, dozens of drones and several armored vehicles.

18 new M4-89 rifles

322 Colt M16A1 rifles, converted to semi-automatic AR-15, $280,140

200 Colt 6920 Series patrol rifles, $159,744

19 LWRCI SWAT Operator Package IC DI 10.5-inch rifles, $39,330

2 LWRCI Rapid Engagement Precision Rifle MKII 7.62 mm 20”, $6,500

2 DPMS AR-10 LR-308 rifles, $3,000

552 Remington Model 870 12-gauge shotguns, $522,192

98 Defense Technology 40 mm single-shot launchers, $98,000

70 PepperBall VKS Carbines, $94,430

10 requested new drones

35 DJI Mavic Enterprise Dual, $192,500

16 iFlight A85, $4,800

13 Happymodel Mobula7, $3,250

8 iFlight A75, $2,400

+12 drones of other models

The new military equipment would be a small fraction of the department’s more than $4.5 million inventory.

The Sacramento Police Department currently has 547 rifles defined by AB 481 as “military equipment.”

Along with over 762,000 rounds of rifle ammunition, the equipment is worth over $787,000.

The department also has "less lethal" equipment such as bean bag rounds for shotguns and projectiles containing tear gas and pepper spray. The weapons, classified as “military equipment” under AB 481 to address police brutality against protesters, can still cause serious injury or death.

The department's arsenal includes 552 12-gauge shotguns and over 10,000 bean bag rounds, as well as over 6,000 pepper ball projectiles and 70 launchers.

The most expensive items in the department's arsenal are two armored vehicles and two mobile command centers. The City Council approved the controversial $400,000 purchase of a third armored vehicle called the Rook earlier this year, which will be delivered in November.

The ten new drones the department is requesting would join a fleet of dozens. As of August 14, it was unclear whether two drones were new acquisitions or already in the department's inventory.

The department also has five robots, including two $250,000 Northrop Grumman-designed bomb disposal robots, similar models of which were used during the Iraq War.

Manufacturer descriptions for each item, as well as policies for their use, are detailed in the full 200-page report, as required by AB 481.