The Monterey Police Department will host a town hall meeting to show the public what military equipment they have and how it has been used over the last year. The town hall will take place at 6 p.m. on Monday at Monterey City Hall, 580 Pacific St. and will be available to watch online.
This is the first time the Monterey police will publicly present this information in a town hall format, although the information has been available to the public in the past. Last year, the department presented this information to city council.
The increased militarization of local police has been an emerging issue for several years as more police departments have acquired military-style weapons, vehicles and practices.
As a way to provide more transparency and give people the opportunity to share their concerns, California Assembly Bill 481 was signed into law and went into effect January 2022.
The Military Equipment Use Town Hall Meeting is part of AB481, which requires law enforcement agencies to create an annual military equipment report. The report should include a description of each type of military equipment the department has, how many of each item are in their inventory, what the equipment’s capabilities are, who is authorized to use it and the costs of each piece of equipment, among other factors.
The full report will be made available to the public on the city website (https://monterey.org/) before the town hall, where the public can ask questions and discuss the report.
The town hall can be attended in person or watched via Zoom at monterey-org.zoomgov.com/j/1606041265. The town hall can also be listened to via telephone at (833) 568-8864 (enter the webinar ID 160-604-1265).
