Richmond council leaves police equipment report unresolved after meeting

Richmond City Councilmembers spent more than two hours Tuesday night hearing a detailed report on the police department's rifles, drones, and other specialized gear, but time ran out before they could vote on it.

Councilmember Cesar Zepeda asked the council to schedule a follow-up meeting next week to finish the agenda. That motion failed on a roll call vote.

The equipment report is required every year under a 2021 state law, Assembly Bill 481, which requires local governments to review and approve what the law calls "military equipment," a broad category that for Richmond includes drones, rifles, flashbangs, tear gas, beanbag shotguns and similar gear.

Police Chief Timothy Simmons opened the presentation by telling the council that despite the law's label, none of the department's equipment ever belonged to the military.

Lt. Donald Patchin, Capt. John Lopez and Police Chief Timothy Simmons field questions from the Richmond City Council about the police department's military equipment report.

"The Richmond Police Department does not have any military equipment that was acquired through the Department of Defense 1033 program," Simmons said, adding that the department does not possess any equipment "that was previously owned by any branches of our military."

Simmons said much of what the state law defines as military equipment is available to any member of the public.

"You can go to Best Buy and buy a drone, which are the same drones that we have for the most part," Simmons said. "You can go to the flea market and buy the same drone, or you can go to an authorized firearm dealer and purchase the exact same firearms that the Richmond Police Department has as well."

Capt. John Lopez walked the council through the department's equipment inventory and how it was used in 2025. According to the report, the department logged 166 uses of equipment covered by the law last year, not counting a separate drone program that logged 766 additional flights. The most common category was drones, used 104 times. The department reported zero formal complaints and no policy violations tied to the equipment.

Beyond what's already in service, the report also lays out something Richmond doesn't yet own: an armored rescue vehicle. The department describes wanting one as a "life safety tool," not an offensive one, and points to nearby sites such as the Chevron refinery, the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, the BART and Amtrak station, Kaiser Permanente's Richmond hospital, and several schools as reasons it wants reliable access to one rather than relying on other agencies, which happened nine times in 2025.

Total equipment spending for 2025 came to $405,425, according to the report. That does not include the cost of training officers to use the gear, which the department separately estimated at about $781,600 more for 2026, most of it for SWAT team training.

Twenty-seven people signed up to speak, and the comments broke sharply into two camps.

Several speakers defended the department, arguing officers need the equipment to safely handle armed suspects and large-scale incidents. A handful cited the department's response to Fourth of July gatherings and past shootings as evidence the equipment is used responsibly.

A larger group of speakers, organized around the group Reimagine Richmond, was joined by community organizations and urged the council to reject the report and stop the department from adding equipment.

Andrew Melendez, an organizer with Reimagine Richmond, asked the council to decline the department's request to spend city resources to acquire new military equipment.

"After record lows in police-recorded crimes like homicide, larceny, and vehicle theft, the department asked this council for funding to expand its military stockpile," Melendez said. "The requested items include a $483,667 armored rescue vehicle. While the department claims the need is not theoretical, it cites situations that might call for an armored vehicle rather than occasions when such an item is needed.

Alan Munguia, a member of the East Bay Coyotes RC, an anarchistic and inclusive riding club, told the council he spent 10 years as a U.S. Air Force security forces member, including deployments where he flew more than 20 missions as an armed security escort, and said he recognized much of the equipment in the report from his own training.

Alan Munguia, a member of the East Bay Coyotes Riding Club and a 10-year Air Force security forces veteran, urges the Richmond City Council to reject the police department's military equipment report during public comment.

"I do not love seeing the equipment I was trained with being used on my neighbors, on my community," Munguia said. "To me, that's just egregious, unacceptable all the time."

Several speakers also referenced the department's own demographic data, which, according to the report, found that among incidents where a suspect's race was known, Black residents made up a disproportionate share of equipment deployments compared with their share of Richmond's population, which is about 17 percent.

Multiple speakers cited the fatal shooting of Angel Montaño Magallan, a 27-year-old Richmond man killed by two officers on Aug. 4, 2025, after his brother called 911. The Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office cleared the officers in February, ruling the shooting was lawful self-defense. But several speakers on Tuesday cited the case as an example of the risks of arming officers with rifles.

Councilmember Bana asked Simmons directly which pieces of equipment on the list were truly optional and pressed him on why the inventory keeps growing. Simmons said none of the items were optional and the numbers are tied to hiring, training requirements, and the age of existing equipment, not stockpiling for its own sake.

Because the council did not vote, the report has not been formally approved or rejected.

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