The taxpayer tab for the San Diego Police Department’s firearms lineup continues to grow seven months after the site was closed due to lead exposure concerns. An NBC 7 Investigates analysis of the expenses puts the total at more than $12 million, and the tab is still running.
In 2019, the city undertook a multi-million dollar renovation of the outdoor range, spending $11.6 million so far. During this renovation, city officials chose not to install a $184,000 dust collection unit as part of a new mechanical bullet trap. This dust collection device uses negative pressure to draw dust and toxins to the back of the trap where they enter a filtering system.
This device was not part of the range renovation project.
The lineup operated this way for about a year until more than a dozen officers started feeling sick and reported testing positive for lead in their blood. It was then, in mid-May, that the city closed the range. At the time, the city told us it intended to install the dust collection unit and resume operations, but now says it has no plans to reopen the range.
Since the shutdown, the city has paid about $398,295 in lead cleanup costs, $51,000 to hire an environmental consultant, and now spends $351,000 a year training its officers at a firing range in Poway. The city’s contract with the Poway facility has the potential to reach $1.7 million if SDPD officers continue to rely on the space over the next five years.
This animated graphic shows the cost breakdown for the range and key events.
A city spokesperson addressed the expenses resulting from its decision not to purchase the dust collection unit, writing:
“The City followed the manufacturer’s instructions during the process of purchasing and then installing the bullet trap system last year. The lead dust collector was optional and it was unknown at the time in 2019 that not installing the dust collector would create a risk of lead exposure. When the lead exposure was identified, the City immediately halted range operations and worked to responsibly remedy the situation.
Through a public records request, NBC 7 discovered that in July 2021, city officials discussed the exclusion of the dust collection unit and the potential consequences during the renovation.
In an email, an employee wrote in part:
“As one of our breaches was related to lead dust, the integration of these devices in the next phases would appear to be a priority. I understand that the inclusion of one of these devices was rejected during the final phase of design. Having received violations in February of 2020, I find it difficult to understand the logic of this decision.”
When asked how much the city has spent since the range closed, a city spokesperson replied:
“Public safety is the City’s top priority and our crews are following guidelines from regulatory agencies when it comes to cleaning and sanitizing the range. The City has an obligation to exercise due diligence in also determining potential exposure from lead dust on the range. At the same time, it is crucial that our police officers remain current and active in their firearms training, as required by law.
NBC 7’s Alexis Rivas spoke to the chief of the Police Officers Association about the complaints about the shooting range.
The future of the outdoor shooting range is unclear, but taxpayers will certainly bear the brunt of the decision.
The range has been an integral part of the Fairmount Park neighborhood since the 1930s. Prior to city ownership, the range was owned and operated by the San Diego Police Revolver Club. In 1936, the club deeded the 5-acre property to the city for the modest sum of $1. There was only one condition, that the city still operate a field police firing range. If for some reason the city stopped doing so, the field would revert to the revolver club.
“I’ve tried to contact the city attorney several times and I don’t have an answer,” club president Jerry Van Wey told NBC 7 Investigates.
Van Wey says he wants to regain control of the range and resume operations for civilian purposes. He says the club would do whatever is necessary to make the shoot safe, including installing a dust collection unit or converting it to an indoor shooting range. But he says his efforts to speak with city officials have been futile.
It should be noted that a number of people are looking for another result.
Over the past year, NBC 7 Investigates has heard from neighbors who have been pleased with eight months of relief from the sound of gunfire. This includes Pastor Dale Huntington of City Life Church in Mount Hope.
“Who’s got an outdoor shooting range right in the middle of a worrying city?” Huntington asked in an interview. “It’s been creating fear and trauma in children in our community and has been for decades.”
Huntington isn’t the first to wonder if an outdoor range still makes sense in such a residential area. New developments have crept in and surrounded the range over the past 90 years. Residents tell NBC 7 Investigates they can hear the sound of gunfire as far away as Mount Hope, Mountain View and Chollas View.
After an NBC 7 Investigates update on the lineup aired in November 2022, San Diego Unified School Board President Dr. Sharon Whitehurst-Payne told NBC 7 that Mayor Todd Gloria called her in the evening. of the show. Whitehurst-Payne relayed a conversation in which she says the mayor told her that not only would the city not reopen the shooting range, but it would allow the community to have their say on what to do with the field of 5 acres which it occupies.
However, how the city could circumvent the act remains a mystery. A spokesperson for Gloria sent us this statement, which says in part, “At this point, the city is still investigating the status of the directors of the gun club and how the return of the title to this entity might take shape. “.
Gloria has refused our repeated requests to interview the range for nearly eight months, including this month when we contacted her office to discuss the amount of money being spent on the range.
NBC 7 Investigates also contacted the office of City Council Speaker Sean Elo-Rivera, whose district encompasses the beach and Mount Hope. His office provided this statement:
“It is unfortunate that so much money was used by the former administration to renovate a shooting range that traumatized surrounding neighborhoods with the near-constant sound of gunfire every day of the week. The current peace experienced by the residents has changed lives.”
City leaders have now sent some residents at least three letters about the range closing. One such letter sent in September received a negative reception from some neighbors who told NBC 7 Investigates it delivered more confusion than information. The letter did not discuss possible community lead exposure and instead focused on other ways people can be exposed to lead, including hazards found in older homes.
More Coverage on the Shutdown of the Police Gun Range
Most recently, the city sent a letter this month acknowledging that it takes potential exposure seriously and is working with regulatory agencies such as the San Diego Air Pollution Control District. and county public health departments to determine what action to take. The letter marks an about-face for the administration, which just two months ago challenged the idea that the community may have been exposed to lead dust beyond the beach.
The city and air pollution control district are currently developing a regulation regarding potential community exposure. This could include fines. A city spokesperson addressed this ongoing process:
“The city is still in discussions with the APCD and San Diego County about potential exposure to the community. As you may know, the APCD recently informed the City of a problem in its analysis and released an updated health risk assessment. The city is committed to continuing to work with the APCD and San Diego County to ensure that the best data is used to properly assess risk and determine what is best for the community.
The APCD admitted to NBC 7 Investigates that it identified a problem in the modeling used in its first health risk assessment. It says its latest report corrected the problem, but still places the risk to the community above regulatory standards, calling the potential health risk significant.
NBC 7 Investigates spoke with several experts with extensive experience in toxicology and environmental science who claim that even small amounts of lead exposure increase rates of brain damage and attention deficit disorder in children, even in unborn children.
Pastor Huntington would like to see the kind of money that has been spent on the range directed to Mount Hope.
“You’re spending money on the very thing that intimidates our community,” Huntington told us. “It’s so not reading the play. It’s so, to me sometimes, arrogant. And it’s hurtful to this community.
Huntington says an example of this expense is on display within 2,000 feet of the range, at Dennis V. Allen Park. The playground equipment burned down a year ago. The city has yet to replace him.
“I think people look at our community and see gangs,” Huntington said. “And they see drug dealers. And they see the addiction. And they see poverty. And they don’t think they’re a creation of our city.
Unlike many areas of the city, Mount Hope does not have a recreation center. That makes it even harder for Huntington to figure out how the city spent millions on a shooting range less than half a mile away that it doesn’t use.
“The city is talking about a good fair game,” Huntington told us. “The city talks about a good compassion game but has no intention of making any changes. We got promises and apologies and I just don’t think any other community would be treated this way.
In response to NBC 7’s interview with Pastor Huntington, a city spokesperson said the city plans to replace the playground and bring a recreation center to the Mount Hope community, writing :
“The Parks and Recreation Department has purchased the playground equipment and the manufacturer is currently working on the custom parts. Installation is expected to take place in the spring of 2023. The larger project that includes the Mount Hope Recreation Center was added to the city’s capital improvement program in FY23 and is being funded. Parks and Recreation will transfer the project to the Engineering and Capital Projects department for preliminary engineering work and for public comment.
