In the coming weeks, Alameda County will be putting forward for a public vote their inventory and usage policys for the county sheriff’s large arsenal of military equipment. ALCO, partially as a result of their operation of the large correctional…
Category: Police Militarization
Seattle Releases Report on George Floyd Protests
The Seattle Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a set of recommendation from the entinel Event Review (SER) of the first days of protests that took place in Seattle following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police.…
Bay Area UASI 2020
Every March, the Department of Homeland Security gifts Bay Area law enforcement with funds for new equipment through the Bay Area UASI. 55 out of 146 requests will be fulfilled and the winners are …. The City of Vallejo and…
Using Criminal Databases On Observers: Urban Shield and CLETS
On April 12, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Media Alliance filed a request for investigation into possible misuse of the CLETS database and a request that the agency cease all similar background checks on journalists and advocates engaged in oversight…
A Short History of Urban Shield.
On March 14th, 2019, the Bay Area Urban Areas Security Initiative Approval Authority voted unanimously to take the monies for Urban Shield and other emergency preparedness programs usually distributed to Alameda County and redistribute them around the Bay Area, to…
Urban Shield SWAT Drill and Weapons Expo Suspended for 2019
At the March 14 meeting of the DHS Approval Authority in Dublin, the Urban Shield SWAT drill and weapons show was suspended for 2019, after the Alameda County Board of Supervisors endorsed a 60-recommendation package to demilitarize the disaster preparedness…
Sheriff Ahern Goes All In on Urban Shield. And Is Called.
When you go all in, you generally don’t want to be called if you are unsure of the outcome. It could have been a scene from a poker movie. Instead, it was real life drama played for $5M stakes at…
“You Can’t Shoot or Arrest a Wildfire.”
So said truly one of many speakers during a seven hour meeting in Oakland on the 26th of February, 2019, at which Urban Shield had a heart attack. The Alameda County Board of Supervisors kept their word from a year…
2019 Bay Area UASI Grants
Every year, law enforcement agencies go to the Homeland Security till and ask for some new crime fighting gadgets. Here’s the list of what Bay Area law enforcement agencies want in 2019. *Sonoma County wants an LRAD (long range acoustical…
The Transformation of Urban Shield: Final Chapter
After 5 years, Urban Shield may end on February 26 …. with your help.Since 2013, the Bay Area has been trying to transform Urban Shield from a highly militarized SWAT competition and weapons expo into a community-focused safety and resilence…