Agency Shifts Millions In Grant Money Away From Urban Shield

ALAMEDA COUNTY, CA — A group that distributes federal grant money for emergency training programs voted on Thursday to shift nearly $5 million away from Alameda County in the wake of a vote by its Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Sheriff Gregory Ahern said. The county board voted 3-2 on Tuesday to re-affirm its decision two weeks ago to make sweeping changes to the sheriff's controversial "Urban Shield" law enforcement training program, which critics allege is overly militaristic.

Ahern warned the board on Tuesday and two weeks ago that the changes likely would cause the county to lose most of the $5.5 million it was slated to receive from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for the program. He said that's because the county's agreement with federal
authorities requires the teaching of skills to fight terrorism, including SWAT training.

In a phone interview, Ahern said his fears were realized at a meeting in Dublin on Thursday of the Bay Area Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI), which is made up of 12 Northern California counties. Ahern said the group's board voted only to award Alameda County $800,000 for various emergency management programs and reallocate $4.7 million to other Bay Area counties for emergency training.

Ahern said, "I'm heartbroken" because he started Urban Shield in 2007 to train his agency and other law enforcement agencies in responding to emergencies and acts of terrorism. Critics say Urban Shield, which has been held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton over four days every fall and attracted law enforcement agencies from across the country and the world, should focus more on training for earthquakes and other natural disasters.

Ahern said, "This terrible action (the vote by the Board of Supervisors) puts our community at risk because the training program keep us up to date" on emergency equipment and training. In its votes two weeks ago and on Tuesday, the board approved most of the 63 recommendations made by an ad hoc committee it appointed a year ago to review Urban Shield.

Among the approved changes are eliminating military-type SWAT teams and competition from the annual training exercises, eliminating its weapons expo and vendor show component, getting rid of the "Urban Shield" label and evaluating law enforcement participants' compliance with their departments' use-of-force policies.

Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly said the vote by the UASI board effectively ends Urban Shield.

By Bay City News