Just two months ago, before the coronavirus closed businesses and before the killing of George Floyd shook the nation, Sacramento City Council made an unpopular, but relatively quiet decision. They voted to spend $400,000 from the city鈥檚 public works fund to buy an armored military vehicle called a
The decision was opposed by those who felt this would further militarize the police force, but the council ultimately okayed the purchase. Their decision hinged on Police Chief Daniel Hahn, who argued that the 2019 death of Sacramento Police Officer Tara O鈥橲ullivan could have been avoided had the Sacramento Police Department had an additional armored vehicle at the time. from a gun ambush, and the investigation that followed showed a delay in the amount of time officers were able to get to her.
鈥淲hat that man was firing at Tara and our officers, there really is literally nothing other than this piece of equipment that can stop those rounds. The only way those officers could get to Tara was with a vehicle like this,鈥� Hahn said during the March council meeting. Sacramento currently has two armored vehicles, one it acquired through the 1033 program -which allows local law enforcement to acquire surplus military equipment- and another that was purchased independently. Hahn said that the vehicle obtained through the 1033 program is old, which is why they were asking for the purchase of another Bearcat.
鈥淭hat one doesn鈥檛 often start, so we are giving that back to the military, so we will continue to have two armored vehicles,鈥� he said. He added that he did not see the vehicle as a military weapon.
鈥淚t really is literally a pickup truck that is bullet-proof. It鈥檚 an F 550, but it鈥檚 bullet-proof,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o it鈥檚 not really a weapon at all, it鈥檚 equipment that keeps both our officers and our community safe.鈥�
But some experts disagree. John Lindsay-Poland is a researcher at the American Friends Service Committee, whose work focuses on demilitarization of law enforcement. He said he believed police purchasing of military equipment like armored vehicles is as much about the visuals as it is about purpose.
鈥淎 lot of times, the police want to project shock and awe, so they will bring out armored vehicles that look like tanks, they鈥檒l bring out the guys all dressed in black with big rifles, with things that shoot tear gas and rubber bullets in order to appear like the baddest dude,鈥� Lindsay-Poland said.
Additionally, that police departments with a greater amount of military equipment are more likely to commit acts of police brutality.
He added that military tactics by police date back to the war on drugs in the 1980s, and also to the creation of the 1033 surplus military equipment program in the 1990s. To date, Sacramento has including the city鈥檚 old bearcat that it鈥檚 pulling from service.
Representatives who manage the 1033 Program, also known as the , have said that the 1033 program is infrequently used to acquire military weapons. Most items that are given to local police departments tend to be more innocuous, like gym equipment, computers and office furniture. Lindsay-Poland agreed, and felt that though the 1033 program creates a connection between local law enforcement and the military, most of the military equipment acquired by police departments is purchased and not given.
鈥淲hat is totally opaque is how many military assault rifles, rubber bullets, tear gas launchers, sound cannons are being acquired and used by those departments, because a lot of those are being purchased through city and county general funds and they鈥檙e not reported, neither the acquisition nor the use,鈥� he said.
Former Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel served on the investigation commission after protests following the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri turned violent. He said the biggest takeaway was that policing to prevent violence was a 鈥渟oftware鈥� problem and not a hardware one.
鈥淭he military surplus equipment we get is just hardware,鈥� Braziel said. 鈥淭he software is how we operationalize it, it鈥檚 training, it鈥檚 how we make the piece of equipment function in the field. The issues in Ferguson were not about the equipment, it was how the equipment was used.鈥�
He admitted however that sometimes, certain equipment could put officers in a particular mindset.
鈥淚n some cases, it鈥檚 officers wanting to look like they鈥檙e heroes, which is the military, and it takes leadership to say no, we鈥檙e not the military, we鈥檙e a policing unit in the United States, we don鈥檛 need that equipment,鈥� Braziel said.
Sonia Lewis with the Liberation Collective for Black Sacramento, an organization looking for alternatives to current policing methods said Sacramento police department鈥檚 reactions to last weekend鈥檚 unrest was not what the community needed.
鈥淥ne of our chants is, why are you in riot gear? There is no riot here,鈥� she said. She added that during events from this past weekend, she saw police use unnecessary force and weapons in an attempt to control the crowd, and that police wearing riot helmets changed the tone of the demonstrations.
鈥淲hen we see things like that, military means we鈥檙e at war, and I feel as though the leaders in this state have basically waged war on its citizens,鈥� Lewis said.
Braziel is currently working with the Portland,Oregon police department to look at alternatives to outfitting police in uniforms that protect them but also looks less confrontational and militaristic. Some examples of places he鈥檚 looking to for examples are the and the Canadian police.
Lewis and other organizations like the Anti-Police Terror Project, Decarcerate Sacramento and ANSWER Sacramento are working on creating alternatives to police force to resolve community issues.
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