OTIS R. TAYLOR JR.
from the Netherlands and Taiwan.
I was invited to observe the Friday vendor show by John Lindsay-Poland, a member of the Urban Shield Task Force who has doubts about its ef-
fectiveness.
“It’s structurally flawed,” he said. “And not just in terms of observing Urban Shield, but in terms of making recommendations to the county.”
The vendor show wasn’t all guns and ammo. Some booths had tools that could enhance police activity, like seeing in the dark. But John McDonald, a sales manager for Night Ops Tactical, a Sacramento company that sells products such as night-vision goggles, lasers and cameras, acknowledged the worry about militarizing police.
“Most of this stuff is observation,” he said, as I tried on a helmet with a night-vision monocular attached. “If you can’t see, you can’t do anything.”
Still, there was a lot of weaponry — guns, scopes and silencers that looked like toys in the hands of the officers walking around in tactical boots with their sidearms in holsters.
“This is our shopping mall,” Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern told me.
The click-click of guns being cocked was unnerving. No guns were sold, though. The vendor show was only for fostering relationships.
Great. And speaking of relationships, I walked around wondering what kind of an impact an adrenaline-packed weekend, filled with intense situations, could have on law enforcement officers when they return to duty.
One vendor gave me an education on hollow-point bullets — and how the bullets, which operate hydraulically, are designed to expand like a helicopter propeller upon impact with something that has a high volume of water. Like the human body. That’s very cool and very deadly technology. Really, it’s not something to play with.
For some task force members, the rifle raffle made them put their hands up in the air in exacerbated surrender. For $20, anybody could enter to win the gun. I could have gone home with a new rifle.
And this is one reason Urban Shield shoots itself in the foot with critics who say the atmosphere around the lifesaving exercises can actually put more lives at risk: Why does another high-power gun need to be put out on the street?
Lindsay-Poland asked Ahern about raffling a gun. Ahern argued that the raffle supports the 100 Club, an organization that provides financial support to spouses of police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty.
“We’re used to guns,” Ahern said. “That’s how people generate funds for charity.”
Then Ahern turned the question around: “How do you feel about generating funds for charity?”
“I think generating funds for charity is great, but what you raffle off says something,” Lindsay-Poland said.
“I’ve told you, don’t look at one thing,” Ahern responded. “I’d like you to look at the entire training.”
I looked. And there was nothing about de-escalation training that I could see. But then I was reminded that Urban Shield isn’t about prevention.
It’s about training to respond to a mass-casualty incident and preparing for what might occur.
During his opening remarks, Ahern introduced a video about the brave first responders to Oakland’s Ghost Ship warehouse fire and the remarkably coordinated effort of law enforcement to remove the 36 victims. Without Urban Shield training, the response and recovery effort would have been a chaotic mess.
But Ahern also used the time to remind attendees about recent terrorist attacks around the world. It was a reminder that for law enforcement, Urban Shield is about preparing for the worst.
“We have to remember that there’s evil out there,” he said. “There’s bravery and courage that’s out there as well.”