SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Community members gathered in Sacramento Saturday to weigh in on how the Sacramento Police Department uses its military equipment.
"This is really one of the first of his time, first of his time, first of his kind of opportunity to really have community members come in and voice their valid concerns,” said Sacramento Community Police Review Commission member Keyan Bliss.
Sacramento police gave a presentation about and took questions from the community on how military equipment is used.
The discussion comes as the department plans to spend over $350,000 on new tactical gear over the next year — including on things like military-style rifles and armored vehicles when it already has $4.5 million dollars in inventory.
“I think it's important that committee members have a direct say in all policies and procedures of the city and all of its public departments, including the police department,” said Bliss. “Our community members that live here in Sacramento city have a right and an invested interest in how the police use every all means of equivalence."
The event was hosted by the Sacramento Community Review Commission and intended to gather feedback from the community the department serves as the commission gets ready to give a recommendation on spending to Sacramento City Council.
While many in attendance expressed their concerns about these things potentially dividing the community, others see benefits.
One man who attended the meeting says he supports buying new equipment to replace old, outdated equipment.
“The things that they are purchasing will benefit the community. Regardless of it it's at a critical incident or if they're being called by another agency to use that to do search and rescue. It's all kinds of things those are being used for,” he said.
Councilmember Katie Valenzuela sat in for the conversation and said she’ll take the group’s input to other elected leaders as they strive to build trust and transparency in Sacramento.
WATCH MORE: Small business success summit held in Sacramento
