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Los Altos police present annual military‑equipment report and seek one reconnaissance robot
Summary
At a public committee meeting, Los Altos police reported 17 outside‑of‑training drone deployments in 2025, disclosed equipment and training costs (about $322,000 total with $318,851 attributed to training), requested council approval to buy a Recon Robotics Throwbot 2 at about $19,000 using a COPS grant, and answered community questions about inventory presentation, ammunition quantities and use‑of‑rifles reporting.
Los Altos police presented their annual military‑equipment report to a public committee and asked the City Council to approve one new piece of equipment: a Recon Robotics Throwbot 2, a throwable reconnaissance robot priced at roughly $19,000 to be paid from a COPS grant rather than the general fund.
The department said it posted the 2025 annual report Feb. 4 as required by AB41 and held the required public meeting within 30 days; the report will go to the council’s March 10 agenda for reapproval. The presenter, identified at the meeting as the captain, said AB41 requires a local council to approve the department’s military‑equipment policy and an accompanying ordinance and to review them annually. "AB41 ... requires that a city's local council has to approve our military equipment policy and then approve an ordinance," the captain said during the overview.
The report shows limited field use last year beyond training: the department deployed static drones to scenes 17 times for incidents including burglaries, traffic collisions, a fire and mutual‑aid assistance to Palo Alto for a death investigation; the captain said there were no complaints or policy violations reported. The department listed maintenance costs of about $4,800 and said it included training costs this year after guidance; "the total cost that we put in the…
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