UCPD will keep 40 mm projectiles and launchers in its arsenal of military equipment, though LAPD is banned from using them for crowd control.

The department will not use the weapons for crowd control but will continue to own them, said Steve Lurie, the associate vice chancellor of campus and community safety in a Feb. 24 email to political science professor Michael Chwe that a Daily Bruin reporter was included on.

A federal judge ruled Jan. 15 that LAPD cannot use 40 mm kinetic impact projectiles – rubber and plastic bullets – for crowd control. LAPD violated a 2021 preliminary injunction by firing 40 mm KIPs without warning at nonthreatening protesters, sensitive areas of the body and 2025 protests against immigration raids, according to the ruling.

LAPD continues to use other less-than-lethal munitions at protests, such as 37 mm and FN 303 launchers, Chief Jim McDonnell said at a Feb. 3 Board of Police Commissioners meeting.

Chwe sent a Feb. 3 email to Lurie and Darnell Hunt, UCLA’s executive vice chancellor and provost, asking if UCPD would use 40 mm projectiles for crowd control after the LAPD ban. Chwe, a board member of the UCLA Faculty Association, added in the email that university police have used the weapons for crowd control, evidenced by injuries sustained by students and faculty at on-campus protests in 2024 and officers carrying them at protests in 2025.

Chwe, who is a UCLA Faculty Association board member and has represented the organization at campus protests, also asked if UCPD will continue to carry the munitions routinely on campus.

“I believe that UCLA would be subject to legal liability for deploying weapons that fall below the safety standard of the LAPD, and would be subject to lawsuits on the same grounds that compelled the LAPD to ban those weapons,” Chwe said in the email.

UCPD and police agencies from across Los Angeles swept an encampment set up by pro-Palestine protesters in Dickson Plaza on May 2, 2024 using flash bangs, batons and less-than-lethal weapons, arresting more than 200 protesters. UCPD officers also wore riot gear and equipped themselves with less-than-lethal weapons when dispersing campus protests following the encampment, including a rally recognizing the one-year anniversary of the encampment, during which three protesters were arrested.

[Related: Three pro-Palestine protesters arrested during encampment attack anniversary rally]

UCPD has more than 400 of the same type of 40 mm KIP rounds used by LAPD, according to a 2025 UCPD inventory. All are listed in the “Kinetic Energy Weapons and Projectiles” category of military equipment.

However, Jeffrey Chobanian, the captain of UCPD’s operations bureau, said in an emailed statement that 100 of UCPD’s rounds have oleoresin capsicum powder, which is a chemical irritant extracted from chili peppers.

The inventory states that UCPD only has five rounds that contain oleoresin capsicum.

Lurie said in the Feb. 24 email that while UCPD officers may be seen holding projectile launchers, they rarely actually discharge rounds. He did not say whether the police department will alter campus deployments and added that the LAPD court ruling does not apply to UCPD.

Lurie also said in the email that UCPD did not deploy any 40 mm rounds in 2025 and has never used them for crowd control. He added that UCPD will carry 40 mm launchers during certain events to prepare for “exceedingly rare instances” where their use is necessary.

The purpose of the 40 mm rounds is to prevent life-threatening or assaultive behaviors and control suspects reasonably believed to have a deadly weapon, according to product descriptions provided by Chobanian.

UCPD also owns 23 40 mm launchers, which can fire both sponge rounds and chemical agents. The department acquired five of those launchers after it received the UC Board of Regents’ approval to buy them last September. The department also possesses five 40 mm rounds containing CS, an irritant used in tear gas.

[Related: UC Regents approves UCLA police department request for less-than-lethal munitions]

Governing bodies of California police departments are legally required to reapprove their military equipment annually, per Assembly Bill 481, passed in 2021. Police that use military equipment – including pepper spray, armored vehicles and certain firearms, among other tools – are required to publish annual use reports and equipment policies on their website, which UCPD abides by.

The UC Divest Coalition at UCLA – a student organization that advocates for the university to divest from companies associated with weapons manufacturing – protested the regents’ decision to allow UCPD to buy military equipment during its bimonthly meeting Jan. 20.

[Related: ‘The crisis continues’: UCLA students urge UC Board of Regents to divest, disclose]

“The University of California has a long history of exploiting land and labor and enabling the military industrial complex,” a speaker said at the protest. “They sit on a surplus of funds that could be going towards meeting the demands of students, workers and faculty, but instead continue to build their billion-dollar investment portfolio, fund the U.S. war machine and heavily police and surveil their very own students.”

Police also must hold “well-publicized” public community engagement meetings each year to collect input on their use of military equipment. Chobanian said in a Dec. 5 emailed statement that UCPD held its 2025 meeting over Zoom on Aug. 29, but no one attended. He added that UCPD advertised the event on its social media accounts.

UCPD’s posts on Instagram and X before Aug. 29 did not promote the Zoom meeting or provide its link.

Per UCPD policy, the department has an email address for people to share feedback or ask questions about its use of military equipment, but Chobanian said in an emailed statement the department has only received one inquiry, indirectly submitted to Lurie, that it attempted to answer and received no response to.

“We are always open to feedback and welcome it at any time,” Chobanian said in the statement.

Since the regents approved campus military equipment in September 2024, UCPD deployed pepper balls – none of which were aimed at protesters – and long-range acoustic devices for crowd control, as well as one 40 mm round during an arrest when a suspect reached for a police firearm, according to a 2025 report from the UC Council of Chiefs of Police. UCPD added in its 2025 report that they used 64 eXact iMpact 40 mm rounds – sponge bullets – for officer training and certification, without specifying the munition model.

Lurie said in the Feb. 24 email that UCPD prohibits using 40 mm launchers indiscriminately against crowds or to enforce dispersal orders. UCPD’s military equipment policy does not mention whether projectiles can be used in crowd management.

“UCLA remains committed to protecting the First Amendment rights of our community while also ensuring the safety of students, faculty, staff, and visitors,” Lurie said.