When Capt. Derek Moye went over the military-style equipment the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department has in its arsenal, during the regularly scheduled Council meeting Tuesday, he emphasized none of it actually came from the Defense Department.
This stood out to Councilmember Marico Sayoc, who wondered if he was required to specify this information. She learned it’s not a rule.
“When people hear ‘military equipment’ they think we get equipment from the military,” Moye said, downplaying the nature of the items the force must disclose under a new State law.
AB 481, authored by San Francisco Assemblymember David Chiu, was signed into law in September. It requires law enforcement agencies to get approval for its military-style tools through the adoption of an ordinance.
Los Gatos’ force has items that fall into several of the categories outlined in the legislation: a robot, a drone, rifles and ammunition, noise flash diversionary devices, tear gas and munitions, and 40mm “less lethal” weapons and munitions.
“It’s better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it,” he said, invoking the specter of a Los Angeles shootout two-and-a-half decades ago where police had to borrow guns from a store, following a bank heist.
According to Moye’s report, the police department has the following: one RoboteX Avatar Tactical Robot, which cost $12,389.21; one Skydio 2 Pro unmanned aerial vehicle that cost $6,902.35; 44 AR-15 rifles that cost up to $3,000 annually, and thousands of cartridges of ammunition for them; two Aero Precision “308” sniper rifles that cost $5,362.80 (the annual repair bill for these is unknown), alongside long-range bullets; 50 Def Tech 11 GR mini NFDD “flashbang” Noise Flash Diversionary Devices, which cost $2,612.50 annually; 6 Def Tech handheld “tear gas” canisters, costing up to $450 annually; dozens of “sponge” bullets, some of which are loaded with chemical agents, and five Lewis Machine & Tool guns to shoot them (the “launchers” cost up to $5,000 annually).
Moye said the items are necessary to decrease civilian casualties during police operations, and to de-escalate contentious encounters.
The robot and the drone are used by the crisis response unit, he said.
The “flashbang” and “tear gas” are used to “gain a tactical advantage,” he added.
Vice Mayor Maria Ristow moved to introduce the ordinance that validates this equipment, noting she attended a virtual community meeting on the subject March 29.
Councilmember Mary Badame seconded the motion.
“Public safety is a high priority of mine and the town,” she said.
Mayor Rob Rennie agreed.
“—but also the safety of our officers,” he chimed in. “The equipment that we do have helps keep our officers safe.”
No one spoke during the public comment period.
According to Moye, the purpose of the ordinance is not to “weaponize” the force, but to add a new level of transparency.
Rennie thanked him for the work he put into the report.
“It was a very good presentation,” he said.
