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Rules committee advances sheriff—s 2024 military equipment report after chair voices chemical-weapon concern
Summary
The San Francisco Rules Committee on Feb. 3 advanced the sheriff—s 2024 Military Equipment Use Policy annual report and inventory to the full Board of Supervisors without recommendation after committee chair Supervisor Walton urged caution about approving chemical agents while a related investigation in San Mateo County remains unresolved.
The San Francisco Rules Committee on Feb. 3 voted to refer the San Francisco Sheriff—s 2024 Military Equipment Use Policy annual report and inventory and related requests for additional equipment to the full Board of Supervisors without recommendation.
Supervisor Walton, chair of the Rules Committee, said she was uneasy about approving chemical agents while an investigation into a training exercise in San Mateo County that affected children remained open. "I really truly have an issue with trying to approve a chemical weapon when we still have an ongoing investigation of what happened during a training practice, in San Mateo County where children at a nearby school were affected by the training usage of the weapons," Walton said.
Walton said she had discussed the matter with members of the sheriff—s department and that the timeline for the investigation was unclear. She said she would prefer to continue the item until more information is available or to separate the request related to chemical agents from the rest of the equipment request, but she moved the item forward without recommendation after indicating she did not have support to delay the referral.
President Mandelmann said Walton—s caution "makes sense." The committee clerk then called the motion to refer the matter without recommendation. Vice Chair Cheryl and President Mandelmann voted "aye," and Walton recorded her vote "aye." The motion "passes without recommendation," according to the clerk.
The committee did not receive public comment on the item during the meeting. The referral sends the sheriff—s annual report, inventory and requests for additional equipment to the full Board of Supervisors for further consideration.
No specific purchase requests, ordinance numbers or detailed inventory items were read into the record during the committee discussion. The item summary presented to the committee stated the referral and purchases would be "consistent with the criteria set forth in state law."
