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Flores, Dora From:CSO Orange <orangecountycso@gmail.com> Sent:Tuesday, August 19, 2025 2:27 PM To:eComment Subject:Vote NO on Item 10 - Demilitarize SAPD! Attention: This email originated from outside of City of Santa Ana. Use caution when opening attachments or links. Good evening city council and staff, We write to you as concerned members of your wards and communities. We are demanding that members of the council DO NOT reaffirm Santa Ana City Ordinance NS-3020, which provides funding and sanction for the Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) to terrorize our communities with military-grade equipment. We must demilitarize our police force, they cannot be allowed to intimidate and harass our communities by brandishing weapons of war! The policy begins by stating that the police department values transparency and public input, yet they failed to properly report YEARS worth of military equipment use. SAPD has also violated Section 2.2 of this policy multiple times over the years, most recently during the anti-ICE protests where officers fired "less-lethal" but still incredibly dangerous 40mm projectiles into crowds of peaceful protestors, injuring many and damaging small business property. The department also deployed tear gas during these protests, a chemical weapon whose short and long term health effects have not been thoroughly studied, further endangering Santaneros and others. These past actions pose a sizable liability to the city, and we have already paid almost $25 million in settlements for SAPD's "misbehavior" between 2010-2020. That amount of money could have been better spent reinvested into our communities. Partial funding for this program, as stated in Policy 707, is provided by an Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) grant through the Department of Homeland Security, which is meant for "high-threat, high-density urban areas... \[to\] assist them in building an enhanced and sustainable capacity to respond to acts of terrorism," (CalOES website). Is SAPD acting against terrorist threats in our city? If not, for what purpose are they soliciting grants to fight such enemies? The truth is that SAPD does not need to have this kind of equipment available to them, owning and deploying such equipment means that our police department views everyday Santaneros as terrorists. Why does SAPD need mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles (MRAPs) when they are sent to respond to peaceful 1st amendment protests? It is within their own practices to "not unreasonably interfere with, harass, intimidate or discriminate against persons engaged in the lawful exercise of their rights" (SAPD Policy 429). Approving this ordinance would be contradictory and poses a great danger to all Santaneros. As stated in Section 1(a)-(c) of AB 481, "Military equipment is more frequently deployed in low-income Black and Brown communities, meaning the risks and impacts of police militarization are experienced most acutely in marginalized communities." SAPD is not supposed to be a military force occupying our city, their job is to protect and serve our communities. By allowing them to obtain military equipment, we are sanctioning police violence and handing weapons of war to officers who currently have no civilian oversight to prevent abuses of power. We demand you say NO to reaffirming NS-3020. Furthermore, we are continuing to demand Justice for Noe Rodriguez, who was killed while unarmed in downtown Santa Ana on December 1st, 2024. The officers who took his life, Luis Casillas and Isaac Ibarra, continue to patrol our streets. We, residents and community members of Santa Ana, demand they be 1