UC police get OK for more military-grade equipment after last year’s protests

This article first appeared in EdSource University of California police departments are replenishing their inventories of military-grade equipment including drones ammunition and pepper ball rounds UC s Board of Regents on Wednesday approved the requests from police departments at the system s Irvine San Diego Los Angeles Santa Barbara and San Francisco campuses Such requests are required to be made inhabitants under Assembly Bill a state law passed in Chosen faculty members and students have expressed concern about the regents approving weapons requests fearing they could be used against peaceful protesters Wednesday s request comes as college campus police nationwide face scrutiny on how they will handle future attendee protests in the wake of disagreement over pro-Palestinian encampments last year Those protests and charges of antisemitism are central to the Trump administration s efforts to cut research funding at UCLA and other campuses A record outlining the requests reported the weapons and ammunition are meant to provide officers with the ability to de-escalate or overcome self-destructive dangerous or combative individuals without having to use deadly force These tools are not used indiscriminately but with caution to protect the lives of UC area members visitors and UC officers when bringing an occurrence to a conclusion with the least amount of force the account adds UC San Diego requested two new drones to assist with patrol operations and special event safety according to the overview as well as rounds of patrol rifle ammunition that the campus commented it needed to replenish because rounds were used in training The UC Irvine department solicited for five new pepper ball launchers and pepper ball projectiles UCLA requested new sponge foam rounds four pepper ball launchers and five additional shot launchers that use less lethal ammunition The requests faced several criticism during Wednesday s population comment period Chelsea Shover an associate professor in UCLA s School of Medicine stated she was concerned that the weapons would be used against students and faculty Among the costs of the new equipment are for the rounds at UC San Diego and each for the pepper ball launchers requested by UC Irvine The equipment used by campus police departments is not equipment that is exclusively used by military agencies noted the description detailing the requests While AB uses the term military equipment the definition in statute encompasses equipment that is not exclusively used by the military the description states In addition no UC police department uses or receives goods from the U S Department of Defense and Law Enforcement Advocacy Office venture for surplus military equipment the assessment added EdSource is California s largest independent newsroom focused on Teaching