Purchase and 'less lethal' deployment records (San Luis Obispo County Sheriff)

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

1. Purchase records, invoices, procurement documents and other documents sufficient to show any and all disbursement of public funds for the acquisition by your agency since July 1, 2015 of any of the following:
• Firearms of .50 caliber or greater
• Patrol rifles (as commonly denominated for law enforcement use) or assault rifles (as defined in Sections 30510 and 30515 of the California Penal Code)
• Wheeled vehicles that are built or modified to provide ballistic protection to their occupants, such as Bearcats or armored personnel carriers.
• Projectile launch platforms, such as 40mm projectile launchers, "bean bag" or specialty impact munition ("SIM") weapons, and "riot guns" used to disperse chemical agents
• Long-Range Acoustic Device (LRAD)

2. Purchase records, invoices, procurement documents and other documents sufficient to show any and all disbursement of public funds for the acquisition by your agency since July 1, 2018 of explosives and pyrotechnics, such as "flash bang" grenades and explosive breaching tools, and chemical weapons such as "teargas" and "pepper balls".

3. Records of deployment by your agency since January 1, 2020 of projectile launch platforms, such as 40mm projectile launchers, "bean bag" or specialty impact munition ("SIM") weapons, and "riot guns" used to disperse chemical agents; explosives and pyrotechnics, such as "flashbang" grenades and explosive breaching tools; and chemical weapons such as "teargas" and "pepper balls".

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

If you would like to discuss this request, please feel free to reach out to me, John Lindsay-Poland, American Friends Service Committee, at 510-282-8983.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

John Lindsay-Poland

Dear Ms. Porter,

I am sorry to hear that the Sheriff's Office does not foresee responding to this request for more than three months after its submission. We will, however, still be very interested in receiving and reviewing these records. If the Sheriff's Office is able to conduct this search and produce records before February 18, please let me know.

Thanks.

John Lindsay-Poland

Dear Ms. Porter,

I am sorry that I am just seeing this now, but wanted to respond.

We don't know what vendors SLO Sheriff's Office uses to acquire the listed types of equipment. But since we submitted an identical request to more than 120 law enforcement agencies in California and have received many responses, we do know what the most common vendors are. They include: Adamson Police Products, ProForce Law Enforcement, LC Police Action Supply, Pepperball, Lenco Armor, Aardvark Tactical, Curtis Blue Line, The Armor Group, Tactical Tech LLC.

I hope that is useful.

best,
John Lindsay-Poland

Dear Ms. Porter,

Many thanks for these records in response to my Public Records Act request. I appreciate it, as I know it entailed a manual search of invoices. Thank you.

The documents I see are purchase records responsive to #1 and #2 of my request. There was also a #3 in my request, for deployment records, as follows:
3. Records of deployment by your agency since January 1, 2020 of projectile launch platforms, such as 40mm projectile launchers, "bean bag" or specialty impact munition ("SIM") weapons, and "riot guns" used to disperse chemical agents; explosives and pyrotechnics, such as "flashbang" grenades and explosive breaching tools; and chemical weapons such as "teargas" and "pepper balls".

However, I don't see records responsive to this part of the request, or a statement about whether a search was made and the outcome of that request. Was it simply not attached or uploaded with the other records? Please advise.

Thanks much.

John Lindsay-Poland