Nine of California's 21 school police departments have quietly stocked up on military-grade weapons over the years — semi-automatic rifles, less-lethal launchers, smoke grenades — but five had not publicly disclosed their inventories in 2026. That includes departments serving some of the state's largest districts, where officers have carried this gear for decades without the transparency lawmakers demanded.
The findings come from an investigation republished by LAist, which examined how school police agencies statewide have handled Assembly Bill 481, the 2021 law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom that took effect January 1, 2022. The law requires agencies to disclose their military-equipment inventories annually and gave police departments a five-month grace period to come into compliance. According to the outlet's reporting, school police forces in Apple Valley, Fontana, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and San Diego had not disclosed inventories to the public in 2026.
The Los Angeles School Police Department, which serves a large district, currently holds 112 semi-automatic rifles and 104 bean-bag shotguns, per the same report. Los Angeles Unified School District spokesperson Christy Hagen said the equipment is used only in limited, high-risk situations and that it protects students, staff, community members and officers — but she did not respond to questions about publicly reporting the department's inventory, the outlet noted.
A Decades-Old Armory, A Recent About-Face
LASPD's current stockpile stands in contrast to its own history. The department once possessed grenade launchers, assault rifles and an armored vehicle obtained through the Pentagon's surplus program, but it relinquished that federally donated armory by 2016 — a shift documented years earlier by Education Week, which reported the district gave up 61 M16 assault rifles, three grenade launchers, and its MRAP vehicle. The federal 1033 Program is a pipeline for transferring surplus Department of Defense hardware to domestic law enforcement. San Diego Unified made a similar move in September 2014, announcing it would return an 18-ton Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle amid national backlash over militarized policing following Ferguson, Missouri, per the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties.
San Diego's current department has had its own reporting gap. The department went without an equipment report for two years before submitting a new one to its district board of education in August, per LAist's reporting. San Diego Unified and Montebello Unified school district police have since published up-to-date inventory reports, while Santa Ana Unified and Twin Rivers Unified released their first military-equipment reports this year. Montebello published an updated report after inquiries from CalMatters, the outlet found — echoing a broader pattern CalMatters documented in its July investigation of California's 148 public colleges and universities, which found 50 higher-education police forces published or updated their inventories only after reporters started asking questions.
Fatal Shooting Exposed A Policy Gap In Sacramento County
The stakes behind the paperwork became starkly clear in Sacramento County. Twin Rivers school police used military-grade patrol rifles while responding to a shooting at an out-of-district high school that killed a teenager, according to LAist's reporting — but the department did not have a military equipment policy in place at the time, despite having owned such equipment for more than 20 years. The Twin Rivers Unified School District Board of Trustees approved an equipment-use policy in May, and district police chief David Lugo said it brought the department into compliance with state law.
The Twin Rivers board meeting that considered the policy drew public comment from 14 people, with eight speakers supporting it and six opposing it, per the outlet's account. Dianne Kieffer, a local neighborhood organization board member, said the policy is about preparedness, accountability, transparency and clear rules. Dean Broussard, a security services company CEO, said immediate response is needed if officers face a shooting incident. Kevin Hedahl, who served in the U.S. Army's Second Ranger Battalion special operations unit from 1999 to 2003, opposed the policy. Twin Rivers Unified serves a student body more than half Black and Latino, according to the report.
What The Law Actually Requires
Under AB 481, agencies must obtain governing-body permission before buying or using any of 15 categories of military equipment, with approval conditioned on cost-effectiveness, civil-liberties safeguards, and a finding that no reasonable alternative exists for civilian safety, according to the California Office of the Attorney General. Policies must be re-approved at least annually and posted online for as long as the equipment remains usable. Annual reports must include an updated inventory and a summary of how equipment was used, and agencies must hold a public forum within 30 days of publishing each report. Tasers and standard-issue semi-automatic rifles are not covered by the reporting mandate.
Several districts fell short of even the policy-language requirements. Santa Ana's equipment report omitted currently owned quantities of rifles and bean-bag munitions, as well as quantities of less-lethal launchers planned for purchase, LAIST found. Santa Ana, Twin Rivers and Montebello equipment policies also failed to state how civilians can submit feedback and complaints, something state law requires. Montebello administration services director Dan Garcia said the public can raise concerns at police town halls and district board meetings, while Twin Rivers said complaint forms can be mailed or delivered in person at school. Fontana and Apple Valley school districts were among those discussed in connection with military-equipment documents. Santa Ana school police did not respond to inquiries about whether it had held its required equipment meeting, according to the reporting.
Confusion Over What Counts As Military Equipment
Some districts initially denied owning any covered gear before reversing course. San Bernardino school police initially said they had no military equipment, then later sent an equipment report, per LAist. Fontana's public records department initially said campus police owned no military equipment, but the district later said it would update its 2024 report and planned to submit it to its board of education this month. Compton Unified was also mentioned in connection with campus police equipment.
Other districts described more modest arsenals or none at all. Apple Valley Unified categorized tasers, semi-automatic rifles, sponge launchers and munitions as military equipment but has never produced an inventory report, the outlet found. El Rancho Unified was also mentioned in connection with campus police equipment. Victor Valley Union High School, Clovis and Hesperia districts were also mentioned in connection with military-equipment policies.
The Broader Debate Over Campus Police Militarization
Statewide, some public school districts maintain their own independent, fully sworn police departments. School districts say military equipment improves responses to critical incidents, threats, violent suspects and crowd-control situations, and district governing boards may subject additional equipment to the same oversight beyond what state law requires.
The broader debate includes concerns about campus police militarization. Hoodline reported in July that educational law enforcement agencies across Santa Clara County, including the West Valley-Mission Community College District Police, undergo similar annual AB 481 reauthorizations for rifles, drones and kinetic energy munitions — underscoring that the reporting gaps described in the LAist investigation are playing out against a statewide backdrop of uneven compliance, not an isolated lapse.
