A Presidential Executive Order tells the LCSO use of surplus military-style equipment must be returned for public trust and safety. The Lassen County sheriff’s office and departments across the nation will have to disband the use of federal surplus equipment that does not have commercial applications through the May Executive order.
Sheriff Dean Growdon, during the supervisor’s board meeting on December 13th, described what deputies and the department currently use that falls under the controlled items. Those include firearms and ammunition of .50 caliber or, more significantly, silencers, bayonets, grenade launchers, stun and flash-bang grenades, armored vehicles, weaponized drones, and long-range acoustic devices, to name only a few. Growdon said that the SO will be returning several controlled items the department currently uses by deputies.
Though the sheriff feels differently about the new mandated law, he will proceed as required by holding public meetings to describe all controlled items the department uses to comply with the Executive Order requirement to be fair, provide transparency, and build public trust to ensure public safety.
The sheriff asked the supervisors at the Dec 13th meeting for an urgency ordinance, which the supervisors adopted, to comply and maintain public safety by not relinquishing their military-style equipment until a new county code can be adopted.
