Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office wants more military equipment. How much will it cost?

Drones and less-than-lethal ammunition are at the top of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office’s request for military equipment in the coming year.

During a Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, Capt. David Becwar presented the Sheriff’s Office annual military equipment use report, mandated by Assembly Bill 481 signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021 that requires transparency by law enforcement agencies for military equipment inventory and usage for the year.

Following their recap of the 2023-24 fiscal year, the Sheriff’s Office detailed what they hope to obtain for the upcoming year, which begins July 1.

According to the presentation, the Sheriff’s Office requested new military equipment items that would cost more than $160,000, including multiple drones, firearms and a variety of ammunition. Sheriff’s officials contend the additional equipment would be useful in high-risk scenarios.

“The technology is very new,” Becwar said of the drones. “It’s a new use in some small cities where one drone can cover the entire city. Obviously, the county is a much bigger area that would require a lot more resources and expense. Most of our drones are outside of our first-responder trial program that we use, and are deployed out to our field resources.”

The Sheriff’s Office requested two unmanned aerial systems capable of vertical takeoff and landing. These VTOL fixed-wing drones have cameras similar to drones already in its inventory. The new drones that the Sheriff’s Office requested can remain aerial for up to two hours.

By comparison, Becwar said in the presentation, the 44 drones currently in the sheriff’s inventory have approximately 20 minutes of useful flight time before they need a battery change or to be swapped with another drone.

“The unique nature of these drones and their effectiveness is that they have the same capability as our normal drones, which is vertical takeoff and landing,” Becwar told the supervisors. “Outside of the vertical takeoff and landing, it transitions to forward flight like any airplane would, which uses considerably less battery to keep it in the air, which allows us longer-term operations.”

The Sheriff’s Office said it intends to use the requested drones for long-duration operations such as “human trafficking interdiction and organized retail theft blitzes.” Each drone costs $43,760 and can last four to five years.

The sheriff’s report also detailed a request to add three additional traditional drones, DJI Matrice 30T, for the Rancho Cordova Police Department, a law enforcement agency the Sheriff’s Office contracts through that city.

Each drone costs $14,000 and has a service life of three years.

According to the presentation, the Matrice 30T is a medium-sized unmanned aerial system equipped with high-zoom and thermal cameras for day or night usage. They can visually follow a vehicle or person, and allow deputies to talk to people using an attached radio and speaker.

In addition to drones, the Sheriff’s Office also requested further military-grade equipment such as firearms, as well as high-caliber ammunition and less-than-lethal projectiles. The cost for such armament would be an additional $32,760 for the coming year.

County residents oppose sheriff’s request

It was a fairly empty room in the supervisors’ chambers at the downtown County Administration Building.

Few residents in the audience, like Britt Birrer, voiced their concerns following the presentation. They told supervisors that more military equipment would not be the answer.

“My parents are retired sheriff’s,” Birrer said after the meeting. “I feel that we are funding an escalation of violence. I believe that law enforcement is criminalizing poverty and disenfranchising people. The system itself has caused a lot of violence in the community.”

Another person in the audience was Keyan Bliss, a member of the city’s Community Police Review Commission. He shared Birrer’s concerns for humanity and said minorities would be most at risk from more equipment.

“The disproportionate use of military equipment and force by law enforcement in communities of color, particularly against Black Californians,” Bliss said, adding that special equipment was deployed against Black residents 49 times in the past year.

According to the Sheriff’s Office’s 2023 review, contained in the report, 24% of deployment tactics were used on Black residents, compared with 28% for their white counterparts.

Hispanic residents saw a 14% deployment and Asian residents were at 2%. The majority of deployments, 63%, were used for men in Sacramento County. Military equipment was deployed at a 37% rate toward residents between 26 and 35 years old.

The report also said, deputies deployed the majority of the Sheriff’s Office drones in ZIP codes in North Highlands, Rancho Cordova, Fair Oaks, Carmichael, Arden Arcade and south Sacramento neighborhoods such as Florin and Lemon Hill.

Birrer said that she was frightened at how comfortable people have become with seeing “state-approved violence,” funded by taxpayers. She said rather than funding law enforcement, she’d rather see resources go toward communities, the art and health care for residents.

“I believe that law enforcement is criminalizing poverty and disenfranchising people,” Birrer said. “The system itself has caused a lot of violence in the community ... even just the term military equipment. Military means warfare — that means then your citizens are your enemies, essentially. And I don’t feel that that creates physical safety for citizens, even emotional and psychological (safety).”

The supervisors unanimously approved the Sheriff’s Office request in a 5-0 vote.

This story was originally published June 5, 2024 at 5:00 AM.