Alameda County supervisors vote to to scale back, shift focus of Urban Shield

At the Alameda County Board of Supervisors Meeting on February 27, members of the public wait to speak.

After more than five hours of public comment and heated debate, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to approve nearly all of an ad hoc committee’s recommendations to demilitarize the county’s controversial Urban Shield annual training program. They voted 4-0 to eliminate SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) deployment exercises and the event’s…

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Urban Shield trains first responders, draws fire over weapons show

Alameda County Sheriff's Office SWAT Team participates in a training exercise during Urban Shield 2013. Photo by Jake Nicol.

“Urban Shield is the largest full-scale exercise in the nation,” said Sgt. J.D. Nelson, Alameda County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) public information officer. The event was created by ACSO seven years ago and has grown each year. This year, Nelson estimates that more than 5,000 people participated from across the state, country and world.

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