AB-481 Website Policy Posting

AB-481 requires that all state and local police agencies adopt a military equipment use policy that is first presented to their respective governing body (in this case, to the Grass Valley City Council).  AB-481 (available to review here) specifically defines what is “military equipment” as well as the process by which a governing body must review, hear public comment, and adopt a proposed policy.  The City Council and the pubic have opportunity to make comment on the draft policy.  This draft policy was first presented to the Grass Valley City Council on 03/22/2022.  Some modifications were requested by the Grass Valley City Council and/or the City’s legal counsel, which are noted in the comments fields of the PDF.  

The timeline for final adoption and the process by which the police departments intends to bring any amendments forward for final adoption is as follows:

•             (03/22/2022) – Report to City Council and presentation of a proposed military use policy and inventory (see attached)

•             (03/23/2022) – Posting of proposed policy and inventory to the Police Department’s webpage

•             (04/07/2022) – Public outreach effort and public meeting to engage with the public, share the policy, and use cases for each item of equipment, which will be available for public viewing (not required but desired by the police department)

•             (04/26/2022) – Final policy proposed to City Council for ordinance adoption and policy approval

•             (05/01/2022) – Policy implementation into the Police Department’s policy manual, including posting the military use policy to the webpage with other police policies already available on the webpage

•             (05/10/2022) – Second reading of Ordinance

If you have any questions or comments, please consider joining us at our April 7, 2022 public meetings located at:

125 E Main Street

Grass Valley, CA 95945

Time:  7:00 PM

Or send your questions or comments to:  comments@gvpd.net