Supervisors

at the patrol level,” Honea said. “It is a good resource that allows law enforcement to very quickly put a drone up into the air to look for suspects who may be fleeing the area. They're also often used in search and rescue operations where you have perhaps a child that has been reported missing. You can put a drone up, you can cover a lot of distance, you can cover backyards, you can do all those things.”

The armored vehicle was used nine times while the acoustic device saw six uses. Undersheriff Matthew

Calkins broke down some of the gear and how it is used, such as the acoustic device.

“That's basically a modern form of a bullhorn that can be directed more effectively than a bullhorn or sirens on our vehicles,” Calkins said.

Calkins said tear gas had been deployed in situations where a suspect was held up inside a home such as a situation that happened in Thermalito last year.

“On March 19, 2023, the Butte County Sheriff's Office SWAT team responded to a residence in Terhamlito after a shooting where the suspect was believed to be barricaded inside the residence and armed with a firearm,” Calkins said.

“(Law enforcement) attempted contact using the device and the PA system. Eventually chemical agents consisting of tear gas were deployed inside along with flashbangs on the outside. It was later determined that the subject had fled the residence prior to a complete perimeter being set up by deputies.

“However, later that evening SWAT personnel and patrol deputies located the suspect and took them into custody when he attempted to sneak back into the house,” Calkins continued.

When the conversation turned back to the board for questions, Tod Kimmelshue asked who labels the equipment as military use, a

question that has come up in previous meetings regarding these reports.

“That's a very good question,” answered Honea. “I would have to say I think the quick and short answer is that legislature determined what was military equipment. Unfortunately, as is the case with a lot of legislation, there is an ambiguity built into the language, oftentimes because members of the legislature are not subject matter experts and so they don't understand what it is they are writing into the law and so this broad category of things got lumped into their definition of military equipment even though in actuality it's not military equipment.”

ICE report

Along with the military equipment use presentation, Honea gave his yearly update on interactions with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly referred to as ICE.

Honea noted California Senate Bill 54 changed how state law enforcement agencies could work with ICE by limiting how long an inmate the federal agency might be interested in could be held in jail.

“Historically, ICE could request that a jail in California hold an individual beyond the time that you can legally hold them on state charges for a few days and allow ICE agents to come and take that person into

custody if they believe that they were in the country unlawfully,” Honea said. “Senate Bill 54 and some of the following legislation ultimately put restrictions on that and made it so that law enforcement in California and particularly jails cannot honor those detainers because they're not legal court orders.”

Of the 8,620 bookings into the Butte County Jail last year, ICE showed interest in 21. Of those, 11 met the requirements of SB54, which allowed the Sheriff's Office to interact with ICE.

ICE did not arrest any of those they reported an interest in.

According to Honea's report, 15 were never picked up and six are still in custody.