The city of Orange ought to be ashamed of itself for requiring a Quaker religious organization to file a lawsuit to obtain a trove of records that the city clearly is required to disclose. It’s ironic that the Orange Police Department, which is responsible for enforcing local and state statutes, apparently saw itself as above the law.
The American Friends Service Committee last year asked the city to provide a list of military-type weapons that its police department had acquired. Gov. Gavin Newsom had signed a new law (Assembly Bill 481) that requires all California cities to provide the public with an inventory of such weapons – and adopt an explicit policy governing their use.
Orange police officials initially rejected the group’s records request in its entirety and provided a “boilerplate” denial “with no real application to the request at issue,” according to the lawsuit. The VoiceofOC reported the city “cited security and anti-terrorism” grounds. That is a police agency’s go-to excuse whenever it doesn’t want to provide information.
Once the Quakers filed the lawsuit, the city quickly fulfilled the request and agreed to draft the state-required ordinance – showing it had to have known its denial was on thin ice. Instead of apologizing, Orange Police Chief Dan Adams complained that the new law is too broad. But like all U.S. citizens, even police chiefs need to learn to comply with laws they don’t like.
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In reality, the militarization of police departments is a far bigger danger than the disclosure of public records. Per the news report, the city ultimately disclosed its possession of 77 AR-15 rifles, flashbang grenades and an armored vehicle. That’s a lot of firepower for a small, placid city.
The Federal Surplus Property Acquisition Law makes it easy for departments to acquire decommissioned military toys. In rare instances, military weaponry can be useful, but it typically encourages officers to behave like members of an occupying army rather than as community-oriented peace officers.
Whatever their views on the police-militarization issue, other cities can avoid Orange’s embarrassment by quickly complying with the law.