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San Leandro renews police military-equipment policy after annual report on deployments
Summary
Acting Assistant Police Chief Luis Torres presented the 2025 military-equipment annual report documenting equipment categories and deployments (including 65 drone deployments and 19 armored-vehicle uses); the council unanimously approved renewal of the policy and inventory and asked for better data on geographic tracking and equipment lifespan.
The San Leandro City Council unanimously renewed the police department's military-equipment policy on May 18 after the department presented its 2025 annual report documenting equipment categories, deployments and a small number of acquisitions.
Acting Assistant Police Chief Luis Torres described nine categories of equipment in the department's inventory and said the department did not obtain any equipment directly from the federal military. He said that in 2025 drones were deployed 65 times, the armored vehicle was used 19 times (down from 21 the prior year) primarily for barricaded suspects, warrant services and armed incidents, and less-lethal tools such as the beanbag shotgun were used in limited, targeted circumstances (five deployments with 17 rounds used).
Torres said the department acquired two Aardvark kinetic breaching tools in 2025 and retired several older breaching shotguns and associated rounds; staff described the change as a transition to tools they consider safer. He reported no complaints or recorded policy violations for equipment use in 2025 and said the Community Police Review Board held a public meeting on April 15 that did not result in a recommendation against the inventory.
Councilmembers asked for additional detail about how often equipment is used in San Leandro versus deployed as a regional asset through mutual aid; Torres said a "vast majority" of drone and medevac/armored-vehicle deployments occur in San Leandro while the medevac vehicle is a regional asset shared with Fremont. Councilmembers also asked for data linking deployments to outcomes and for geographic tracking so the council could better evaluate neighborhood-level impacts. Torres said after-action reports and use-of-force documentation exist and staff can compile success/failure metrics in future reports; he noted that independent reviews occur for use-of-force incidents.
After questions, Councilmember Bolt moved to approve staff's recommendation to renew the policy and inventory; Victor Aguilar seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
What's next: staff indicated it can provide more granular lifespan tracking for equipment (purchase dates and time-in-service) and compile outcome-based metrics tying deployments to safety results for future council review.
