The new meeting got on the calendar after Fresno residents sounded the alarm over whether Fresno police is in compliance with a state law known as AB 481<\/a>, which requires local law enforcement agencies to host an annual community engagement meeting about their military equipment and its uses.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even though the law was approved in 2021<\/a> and went into effect in 2022<\/a>, the Fresno Police Department never held annual community engagement meetings about its military equipment in subsequent years \u2014 as required by AB 481.<\/p>\n Now, four years after the law came into effect, the city still may not be in compliance \u2014 even with the community engagement meeting.<\/p>\n AB 481 lists a number of details that local law enforcement agencies need to transparently include in an annual report on how they use military equipment.\u00a0<\/p>\n That includes how local police actually use the military equipment in their possession \u2014 like SWAT vehicles, military sniper rifles and drones.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Fresno Police Department\u2019s latest annual military equipment use report \u2014 released last week \u2014 does not explain how its officers used military equipment in 2025<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Neither did the police department\u2019s annual reports for 2022<\/a>, 2023<\/a> and 2024<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s why Fresno residents are, for the second year in a row, calling on the Fresno City Council to table the annual report, which is up for consideration on the consent agenda for Thursday\u2019s city council meeting, until the Fresno Police Department fully complies with state law.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a just and lawful right extended to us by the State of California,\u201d Fresno resident Arieana Castellanos told Fresnoland. \u201cIt\u2019s not a favor or demand, it\u2019s just you\u2019re required to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Castellanos has aired her concerns about the transparency of the Fresno Police Department\u2019s use of military equipment since last year<\/a>. She noted that AB 481 is designed to increase police transparency<\/a> and help the community understand whether the use of military equipment is cost effective<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to see my councilmembers pull this item again, put it for the next city council meeting, and instruct the police department to address these issues to be in compliance with the law,\u201d Castellanos told Fresnoland.<\/p>\n Transparency concerns aren\u2019t new<\/p>\n The upcoming Wednesday community engagement meeting on the use of military equipment by the Fresno Police Department is progress compared to last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Castellanos was one of a few people who showed up to an April 2025 Fresno City Council meeting, calling against the approval<\/a> of the police department\u2019s annual military equipment report since it never held a community engagement meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n While it didn\u2019t lead to immediate change, it caused Councilmember Nelson Esparza to ask City Attorney Andrew Janz for confirmation that the police department was complying with state law<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Janz explained how there\u2019s a 30-day noticing requirement for the police department\u2019s annual report on military equipment use. He also touched on the community engagement meeting requirement in state law, and suggested that the city is compliant.<\/p>\n \u201cThe law also calls for a community meeting where questions may be asked and discussion had,\u201d Janz said at the April 2025 city council meeting. \u201cDoesn\u2019t really describe a format, per se, but we\u2019ve advised the city manager that this is the community meeting that complies with the law.\u201d<\/p>\n Janz said that referring to the opportunity for members of the public to make a public comment at the April 10 Fresno City Council meeting, which exists at every city council meeting, although usually at different times.\u00a0<\/p>\n Castellanos said her concerns were disregarded by city officials last year.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt like it was a violation of our rights, like that state law extends a right to me,\u201d Castellanos said. \u201cThen they (city officials) were just like, \u2018We don\u2019t care.\u2019 So I felt bad.\u201d<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Fresnoland received confirmation from the Fresno Police Department that the city\u2019s legal interpretation hasn\u2019t changed, even though its practices this year are different.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI confirmed that (Wednesday) night\u2019s public meeting about the military equipment report is the first one we have done that was specifically hosted by Fresno PD,\u201d said police spokesperson Larry Bowlan via email on Tuesday afternoon. \u201cThe prior year notifications were done through City Hall by posting on their council meeting agenda about the military equipment report and allowing the public to make any public comments about the report, prior to the council voting on it.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear how or why city officials have, for years, legally interpreted general public comment at council meetings as the \u201ccommunity engagement meeting\u201d required under AB 481. It\u2019s also unclear exactly why the Fresno Police Department is now hosting its first engagement meeting about military equipment use.\u00a0<\/p>\n Janz did not respond to Fresnoland\u2019s request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bowlan told Fresnoland that the decision to host the Fresno Police Department\u2019s first-ever community engagement meeting about military equipment on Wednesday was not in response to community feedback.<\/p>\n Will police address community concerns and questions?<\/p>\n While Castellanos has been on the forefront of advocating for compliance with AB 481in Fresno, advocates elsewhere have also been pushing local governments to follow the state law\u2019s requirements too.\u00a0<\/p>\n John Lindsay-Poland is the co-director of the California Healing Justice program<\/a> focused on ending mass incarceration, demilitarizing police and promoting healing alternatives. The program is run through the national American Friends Service Committee<\/a> and has documented the military weapons stock<\/a> of Bay Area law enforcement agencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n It also collaborated with the ACLU of Northern California on a memo explaining what local compliance with AB 481<\/a> should look like.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lindsay-Poland told Fresnoland via email that state law requires local law enforcement agencies to host community engagement meetings about its use of military equipment \u2014 not local governing bodies like a city council.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe law requires that the law enforcement agency itself hold such a community meeting, at which the public \u2018may discuss and ask questions regarding the annual military equipment report.\u2019\u201d Lindsay-Poland told Fresnoland via email. \u201cA Brown-Acted City Council meeting does not permit \u201cdiscussion\u201d, nor responses from the dais to questions the public asks. The community engagement meeting must also be \u201cwell publicized and conveniently located,\u201d and a daytime City Council meeting arguably does not qualify as either.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Fresno police\u2019s annual military equipment use reports list how many times it used various military equipment, as well as authorized uses, the report does not explain how their officers have actually used military equipment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lindsay-Poland said state law requires that.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFresno PD includes a statement (on) what purposes are authorized for use of each type of equipment, but not the purpose for which the equipment was actually used in the previous year, which is what the law requires and what interests community members,\u201d Lindsay-Poland said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now that Fresno police will finally hold a community engagement meeting Wednesday, Castellanos said she is hopeful that the police department will actually answer and address questions and concerns from community members.\u00a0<\/p>\n A number of those concerns were made in writing<\/a> and also vocalized at the March 19 city council meeting, as the latest annual report was originally slated for approval last week prior to the community engagement meeting this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bowlan, the police department spokesperson, said that was done in error. The report was changed into a presentation item at the beginning of the city council meeting last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n Castellanos also said there are still remaining AB 481 compliance issues for the Fresno Police Department. On top of not listing how Fresno police have used military equipment, the annual report also doesn\u2019t list personnel costs, a required disclosure under the state law.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/braun_vehicle.jpg\")
The Fresno Police Department used its crisis negotiation\/de-escalation vehicle a dozen times in 2025. Although the police department\u2019s annual military equipment use report contains that information, it doesn\u2019t include a summary of how it was used as required by state law. <\/p>\n