Semi-automatic rifles, armored vehicles, flash bang and tear gas grenades, explosive breaching tools, pepperball and bean bag guns.
These are some of the weapons and equipment various local police departments across Orange County have at their disposal.
And every year residents get a peek at their local police department’s military arsenal as part of a law that went into effect in 2022 that requires law enforcement agencies up and down the state to disclose weapons state officials deemed “military grade.”
Over the years, spending on police has taken up a bulk of city budgets throughout Orange County – with some cities, like Santa Ana and Westminster, having to increase sales tax to keep the current level of police service, along with other municipal services.
Meanwhile, local city and police officials have often argued the state’s definition of military grade is broad and includes weapons not used by the military.
The reports also include drones, which have faced recent scrutiny amidst bids by both the state and federal government to ban drones from the manufacturer DJI amidst concerns their drones are being used for spying by the Chinese government, a claim the company denies.
[Read: Why Do OC Police Departments Use Drones Blacklisted by Federal Government?]
Here’s a look at the military weapons cache for the police departments of some of the biggest cities in Orange County and the County Sheriff’s Department.
What Does Your Local Police Department Armory Look Like?
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department carries the largest military arsenal in the county, with nearly 1,000 rifles – mostly AR15s – 1.2 million rounds of ammunition, 50 drones, 16 military and armored vehicles, and a host of less lethal weapons like pepperball launchers, beanbag shotguns and tear gas grenades.
But most of those weapons sat on the shelf over the past year, according to the department’s military equipment report, which found only 53 incidents in which weapons were used on a suspect of the 203 times they were even deployed in the field.
The most used items were drones and pepperball launchers, followed up by armored vehicles and flashbang grenades.
Most of the time, the equipment was used for training, with the disclosure noting at least 416 training uses.
As of June 26, the Anaheim Police Department has not released their latest disclosure.
The disclosure and use policy is expected to go before the Anaheim City Council in August, according to Sgt. Johnathan McClintock, a spokesman for the Anaheim Police Department.
Police departments throughout the county have inventories similar to the sheriff.
The Irvine Police Department has over 30 drones, over 150 patrol rifles, two armored vehicles, 30 flash bang type grenades, two chemical agent launching guns and pepperball launchers.
According to the disclosure, Irvine Police used the flash bang grenades twice last year to arrest suspects, deployed their armored vehicles four times and carried out over 2,000 drone flights.
To view Irvine’s Police Department’s full inventory, click here.
Garden Grove’s police department has over 140 semi-automatic rifles most of which are Sig Sauer M400 rifles, over 10,000 rifle rounds, flash bang type grenades, an armored vehicle, chemical agents and smoke canisters, bean bag guns and pepperball guns.
To view Garden Grove Police Department’s full inventory, click here.
The Fullerton Police Department has 160 AR-15 rifles, 15 M4 semi-automatic rifles, seven drones and two long-range sniper rifles.
To view Fullerton Police Department’s full inventory, click here.
Similarly, the Costa Mesa Police Department has drones, a tactical robot, pepperball launchers, Colt carbine rifles, submachine guns, night vision goggles, chemical and smoke canisters.
It’s unclear exactly how many of each item they have since Costa Mesa lists an up to quantity amount for their military equipment.
To view Costa Mesa Police Department’s full inventory, click here.
The Huntington Beach Police Department has 32 pepperball launchers, over 70 AR-15 rifles, a robot and flash bang style grenades. According to their annual report, the drones were used 132 times in 2023.
To view Huntington Beach Police Department’s full inventory, click here.
The Orange Police Department has 167 AR-15 rifles, tear gas grenades, 20 flashbang grenades, eight drones, an armored rescue vehicle and pepperball launchers and projectiles.
To view Orange Police Department’s full inventory, click here.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
Gigi Gradillas is a Voice of OC intern. You can reach her at Gigi.Gradillas@gmail.com. Follow her on X @gigigradillas.
•••
Can you support Voice of OC with a donation?
You obviously care about local news and value good journalism here in Orange County. With your support, we can bring you more stories like these.
