Guess what’s on the Consent Calendar on March 3rd?

Tell the County Supervisors: “NO more military equipment puchases on the Consent Calendar!”

According to AB-481, a CA law passed in 2021, law enforcement agencies who want to buy military equipment have to obtain approval from their applicable governing body in public meetings. The law was adopted into Ventura County Ordinance 4603. For today’s example, we’re talking about the Sheriff’s office request to buy a drone on the V.C. Board of Supervisors (BOS) March 3rd consent calendar.

Why do law enforcement agencies in CA have to ask permission to buy military-grade equipment? The reasons for this public approval process was important enough to be written into the law itself.

SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) The acquisition of military equipment and its deployment in our communities adversely impacts the public’s safety and welfare, including increased risk of civilian deaths, significant risks to civil rights, civil liberties, and physical and psychological well-being, and incurment of significant financial costs. Military equipment is more frequently deployed in low-income Black and Brown communities, meaning the risks and impacts of police militarization are experienced most acutely in marginalized communities.

(b) The public has a right to know about any funding, acquisition, or use of military equipment by state or local government officials, as well as a right to participate in any government agency’s decision to fund, acquire, or use such equipment.

(c) Decisions regarding whether and how military equipment is funded, acquired, or used should give strong consideration to the public’s welfare, safety, civil rights, and civil liberties, and should be based on meaningful public input.

(d) Legally enforceable safeguards, including transparency, oversight, and accountability measures, must be in place to protect the public’s welfare, safety, civil rights, and civil liberties before military equipment is funded, acquired, or used.

(e) The lack of a public forum to discuss the acquisition of military equipment jeopardizes the relationship police have with the community, which can be undermined when law enforcement is seen as an occupying force rather than a public safety service.

To comply with the law, the Sheriff must supply a “Military Equipment Annual Report” (Here is the 2025 version), and must ask the BOS for permission for additional items.

An example of what you could write, or speak about! (USE YOUR OWN WORDS!)

Request to Remove Military Equipment Items from Consent Calendar

I am writing to request that all items involving the acquisition or authorization of military equipment be removed from the consent calendar and placed on the regular agenda for full discussion and public input.

The consent calendar is reserved for items that are routine and noncontroversial. Any expansion of military equipment within civilian law enforcement is neither routine nor noncontroversial. Decisions that increase the coercive capacity of the state carry significant implications for civil liberties, privacy, and community-police relationships. They deserve open deliberation.

In general, the militarization of police is regressive public policy. It expands enforcement power and surveillance capability and shifts the character of policing away from community-based models. These are matters the public has a right to weigh in on before approval.

Community trust in the Sheriff’s Office has also eroded in recent years, particularly following involvement with ICE operations. At an event in Ojai, Sheriff Fryhoff stated that federal tactics are “destroying the trust and relationships his deputies have spent decades building.” Despite that statement, the Sheriff’s Office has previously participated in ICE operations such as the raid at Glass House Farms in Camarillo, where armored vehicles and other military-style equipment were deployed. The use of such equipment against community members further heightens public concern about militarization.

When trust is strained, transparency becomes even more important. Placing military equipment items on the regular agenda allows for public comment, direct questioning, and a clear public record of discussion.

For these reasons, I respectfully request that all military equipment requests be pulled from consent and scheduled for discussion with public input.

Thank you for your consideration.

Here is the agenda for the meeting: https://ventura.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?meetingTemplateId=25322

Deeper Dive!

THE “JUST ONE” EXCEPTION: Sheriff Fryhoff wants to buy a $85.610 drone, and using the reasoning that there’s only one of them being purchased, the county put the whole thing on the consent calendar, which is usually approved with little public oversight or comment. From his letter to the BOS:

“The term “Military Equipment” as used in Ordinance 4603 does not necessarily indicate equipment used by the military. Most of the equipment defined by this ordinance and possessed by the Sheriff’s Office is employed by most law enforcement agencies across the country to enhance citizen and officer safety.

This funding will be used for the purchase of one Wingtra RAY Survey Drone, and related equipment, which is designated by Ventura County Ordinance No. 4603 as Military Equipment. The Sheriff’s Office maintains a fleet of small Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) that are deployed when an aerial view would assist with investigations, missing persons’ searches, vehicle collision documentation, natural disaster management, crime scene evidence collection, high-risk apprehension of armed/violent suspects, and other public safety and life-saving missions. The Wingtra RAY is the first fixed-wing drone specifically designed to assist Search and Rescue Teams with locating missing persons. The drone can cover vast areas of terrain in a short time period and utilizes AI technology to highlight humans or items / objects commonly associated with humans within the digital data, leading to clues and specific locations of evidence, thereby leading to a more rapid rescue of missing persons. This use of AI can overcome common human error of search personnel manually reviewing the captured footage and potentially missing clues in their search. The Wingtra RAY is listed on the “Blue UAS” list of authorized aircraft by the US Federal Government.“

The Sheriff is trying to downplay the role that drones now take in citizen surveillance and modern warfare. The WingtraRAY’s website doesn’t actually mention the uses laid out in the Sheriff’s letter, preferring to advertise its capabilities in surveying buildings, roads, crack on airstrips, and crops. AI analysis states that this product lacks the software, hardware, and intent required for tracking or surveilling individuals. However, human analysis noted that this product has an add-on parachute which allows it to hover over people legally, along with swappable sensors (hardware) and update-able AI-controls (software), flexibility that could add on an ability to surveil faces in the future. Human analysis also understands that intent comes from the people who use it.

ANOTHER “JUST ONE” EXCEPTION: On November 18, 2025 at the VC BOS, a single Lenco Bearcat was approved as a consent calendar item, on the agenda for the Sheriff’, voted unanimously by all supervisors.

It was subsequently involved in the ICE raids of Camarillo at Glass House where VC Sheriffs used military equipment against protestors. You can see their armored Lenco Bearcat on the right side of this picture.

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