Supervisor Preston Files Inquiry Following Revelation of SFPD’s Plans for Military Gear Spending Spree and Robot Dogs Amid Budget Deficit
On Tuesday, June 25th, Supervisor Dean Preston, Chair of the Government Audit and Oversight Committee, filed a new inquiry into the San Francisco Police Department’s plans to acquire military equipment. Per a recently-posted report, the Police Department is seeking to acquire a plethora of military gear, and is “exploring” for the first time the use of controversial police robot dogs. The bombshell disclosure from SFPD came after the department missed its January 2024 deadline to lay out military equipment plans and Preston and his team formally and informally pressed the department to file its legally-mandated annual report pursuant to Assembly Bill 481 (Chiu). After five months of delay, SFPD quietly uploaded its report to its website on June 11th without notifying the Board.
“It is now clear why SFPD delayed for months,” stated Supervisor Preston. “The report outlines a spending spree for military equipment that’s fundamentally inconsistent with the budget reality in our city. Most alarming, buried in the report is the admission that SFPD is considering acquiring, for the first time, robot police dogs that have been highly controversial in other cities.”
Per projections based on SFPD’s reports, it appears that SFPD intends to spend at least $750K1 acquiring new military equipment in the midst of a budget deficit of nearly $790 million budget deficit over the next two fiscal years. Meanwhile, essential services – like food for the hungry, anti-sexual exploitation programs, violence prevention, and youth programs – are being cut. Specifically, the Police Department is seeking to acquire two more Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs) used against protesters, more machine guns, and the robot dogs.
“San Franciscans don’t want dystopian police robot dogs – they want police to show up when they call 911,” stated Preston. “It is hard to square these acquisitions and expenses– especially for something like a police robot dog, which will not make us any safer– with the spending cuts we are asking from other departments.”
Supervisor Preston has filed a formal letter of inquiry requesting that SFPD clarify its plans and rationale for acquiring the equipment and is urging the Mayor and Board of Supervisors to engage in further oversight of those plans before finalizing the budget.
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1 Estimate based on SFPD reports and fair market value for equipment. The SFPD report excludes information about costs and certain types of military equipment, including military-grade drones.
