The Culver City Council has moved forward with an ordinance governing the use of military equipment by the local police and approved funding for such equipment.

By a 3-2 vote, the Council at its recent meeting voted approved the military equipment policy required by Assembly Bill 481. The dissenting votes were cast by Mayor Daniel Lee and Councilmember Yasmine-Imani McMorrin.

AB 481, which went into effect in January, required the Council to create a policy dealing with how and when the military equipment should and can be employed.

Prior to the approval of the military equipment funding for CCPD, Police Chief Manuel Cid stated that his department doesn’t “possess any equipment that has been designed solely for military use or has been received directly from the military.”

He said that CCPD currently has in its inventory some equipment categorized as military, including drones, two armored vans, specialized rifles, flashbands, tear gas, and kinetic energy weapons (beanbags).

Cid also pointed out that only trained officers will use the equipment. He said that this equipment actually allows his department to keep the public and the officers safer by using non-lethal means of control.