BLUE FOLDER ITEM
Blue folder items are additional back up material to administrative reports and/or public comments received after the printing and distribution of the agenda packet for receive and file.
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
September 15, 2026
H.13 APPROVE A GRANT AWARD PACKAGE AND CONDITIONS, AND A CERTIFICATIONS AND ASSURANCES STATEMENT WITH THE U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS,
BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE, FOR THE FY 2025 EDWARD
BYRNE MEMORIAL JUSTICE ASSISTANCE GRANT (JAG) PROGRAM
LOCAL FORMULA IN AN AMOUNT OF $16,336, FOR THE TERM
OCTOBER 1, 2024 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30, 2027, AND AUTHORIZE
THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE BOTH ITEMS ON BEHALF OF THE CITY
ADOPT BY 4/5THS VOTE AND BY TITLE ONLY RESOLUTION NO. CC2609-076 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF REDONDO BEACH, CALIFORNIA, AUTHORIZING A FISCAL YEAR 2026 - 2027 BUDGET MODIFICATION TO APPROPRIATE $16,336 IN BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE FY25 EDWARD BYRNE MEMORIAL
JUSTICE ASSISTANCE GRANT (JAG) PROGRAM LOCAL FORMULA
FUND FROM THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, OFFICE OF
JUSTICE PROGRAMS, TO THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL GRANTS
FUND
CONTACT: STEPHEN SPRENGEL, CHIEF OF POLICE
• Public Communications
From: Bryan Stone
To: James Light; Paige Kaluderovic; Brad Waller; Chadwick B. Castle; Zein Obagi; Scott Behrendt; CityClerk Subject: Pull and shelve Item H.13 (JAG grant for license-plate readers) Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2026 12:49:00 PM
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Dear City Clerk,
Please add this comment to the record for Consent Calendar Item H.13 Thank you.
Bryan Stone
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Dear Mayor Light and Councilmembers:
I ask you to pull Item H.13 from the consent calendar, shelve it, and refuse any further spending on surveillance systems until the City holds a noticed public hearing on the subject.
H.13 would accept $16,336 from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant and, by staff’s own report, buy an automated license-plate reader system: hardware, software, access to a video database, and support. The readers would stand at points of ingress and egress. Past JAG awards have already gone to plate readers and to the drone-as-first-responder program. Tonight’s accounts payable also list Flock software. The question is not the size of this check. The question is whether Redondo Beach will keep buying cameras and databases without first asking the people who live here.
A plate reader records where a car was, and when. Linked over time, those records map the movement of residents who have committed no crime. A drone records what a street looks like from above. Software vendors keep and share what they collect. None of that is a small purchase. It is a standing watch on public life. Consent calendars exist for routine bills. This is not routine.
If the City wants such tools, let it say so in the open. Publish the inventory: every reader, every drone, every vendor contract, every retention rule, and every agency that may see the data.
State the purpose in plain words. Then take comment. A grant that arrives with federal conditions is still City policy. The public should hear the policy before the City spends the money.
I therefore ask three things. First, remove H.13 from consent and do not approve it tonight.
Second, direct staff to return with a full account of existing and proposed surveillance systems, including Flock readers and unmanned aircraft. Third, set a public hearing before any new or renewed outlay for cameras, plate readers, aerial systems, or the software that stores what they capture.
Respectfully,
Bryan Stone
Redondo Beach Resident