Local officials want law enforcement to consider something other than chemical agents during emergency crowd control situations.The Santa Monica Police Department’s (SMPD) stockpile of defense technology chemical agent canisters, or "tear gas," was discussed by the Public Safety Reform and Oversight Commission (PSROC) during a Tuesday meeting, with the commission ultimately encouraging SMPD to "search for an alternative method of control" than the chemical agent.
Discussion on the SMPD stockpile coincided with the commission’s review of the department’s California Assembly Bill 481 mandated report regarding use of approved military-grade equipment. The bill, referred to as AB 481, requires all California law enforcement agencies to obtain approval of funding, acquisition, or use of military equipment within its jurisdiction, and requires that these agencies submit an annual report on the "inventory, procurement, use and misuse of covered military equipment items."
The SMPD’s annual report covering 2022 is broken down into several equipment categories, including "unmanned, remotely piloted, powered aerial or ground vehicles," "projectile launch platforms and their associated munitions," as well as "flashbangs, chemical agent delivery devices, and pepper ball launchers," in which the tear gas is a part. SMPD previously received approval for the list of items, with the commission review merely a discussion item.
A commission motion, made by Chair Derek Devermont, states that the report is approved by the commission in its entirety, with the encouragement to search for tear gas alternatives. An alternative motion was made prior to the final motion by Commissioner Joseph Palazzolo to approve the report in its entirety without the tear gas-related language, stating that SMPD is the "only entity" that has expertise on the subject, and that the commission should not legislate the department’s stockpile.
Devermont responded by saying he is "not questioning" or "denying" the judgment or expertise of SMPD, and that the language request was not necessarily a recommendation to stop the procurement and potential use of the item.
"I don’t see any harm, and I don’t think it speaks negatively about SMPD, I don’t think it reflects poorly on SMPD, to simply say that there’s a less violent method of [control], because I think we’d all like to see those," Devermont said. "I think we’d all like to see the least violent methods used if possible. I don’t think it’s [calling] on SMPD to not use tear gas if that’s the least violent method, it’s not calling on them to get rid of it. It’s just saying, hey, look for it, and if it’s out there, great." Devermont’s previous motion included the words "less violent" which were substituted into the word "alternative."
The 2022 SMPD report states that the department is in possession of 32 canisters of various defense technology chemical agents, saying that the items’ capabilities are designed "to safely resolve critical situations such as violent civil unrest and high-risk tactical operations." SMPD Deputy Chief of Police Darrick Jacob spoke to the commission about potential use of the canisters, saying that use is "rare" but would typically be used for barricaded suspects. No usage of canisters occurred in 2022, per the report.
"We rarely use it, when we do use it, it’s to extricate somebody from a house, from a building, someone who’s armed trying to get someone out when all things have failed instead of rushing in … [Los Angeles Police Department] has tear gas, and they do use it on those particular issues," Jacob said.
Jacob added that deliverance of the canisters is "one of the most regulated things in our state," particularly after a 2021 bill that barred law enforcement agencies from using chemical agents such as tear gas to break up peaceful demonstration. Normal officers are unable to deploy munitions, only a specially-trained Mobile Field Force Unit or SWAT Unit of officers. The SMPD report says that the canisters "can also be used by trained and qualified members at the direction of a supervisor."
The Deputy Chief said that authority on usage begins with a request from a tactical commander, then one from an incident commander, and ultimately the Chief of Police or a designee of the Chief can make the decision to use. Any usage of a canister must also be presented to the Oversight Commission within 30 days.
A prior commission discussion on emissions of tear gas is that it should be used "sparingly" and "with great caution" due to the "unknown health effects of these munitions as well as the impact they have on the community at large." The commission’s view further states that "all uses of force should only be used when all peaceful alternatives have been exhausted in accordance with penal codes" such as codes concerning use of force, kinetic energy projectiles, civil disobedience and de-escalation.
Asked by Commissioner Craig Miller if Jacob personally has concerns on the health consequences of tear gas, Jacob replied that it "doesn’t matter" what he personally thinks, because he can only speak professionally when he is uniform. Jacob noted that there is a "tremendous liability" in SMPD actions, that he’s prepared to deal with any consequences of non-compliance with the state’s view on tear gas, and that tear gas has only been deployed once in his 20 years of service.
That came on May 31, 2020, when officers deployed the gas in an attempt to disperse individuals from the downtown area.
