It’s Urban Shield 2014, September 4th through 8th at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Oakland. Just a bean-bag round’s throw away from where Scott Olsen was nearly murdered by the same kind of thugs you see in these pictures.
Urban Shield has grown into a comprehensive, full-scale regional preparedness exercise assessing the overall Bay Area UASI Region’s response capabilities related to multi-discipline planning, policies, procedures, organization, equipment and training. Urban Shield continues to test regional integrated systems for prevention, protection, response and recovery in our high-threat, high-density urban area.
Vendors include companies with such interesting names as
Armored Mobility Inc
5.11 Tactical
Black Ops Airsoft
Elephant Hunter Clothing
FirstSpear
International Armored Group
Lenco Armored Vehicles
microdrones GmbH
WMDTech
So why aren’t the people up in arms (the human kind, not the 2nd Amendment kind)? Why does the City welcome this convention year after year? Why does the Oakland Police Department participate in such a raw display of testosterone, militarization and suppression of First and Fourth Amendment rights? (You don’t have to answer that, it was a rhetorical question).
Perhaps it’s because everyone is more concerned with whether the A’s remain in Oakland. Perhaps not. Don’t know.
You can read about last year’s Urban Shield protests here:
O25. They Are Coming.
San Francisco Bay Area Urban Shield 2013 Overview Presentation.
My Shield is Justice. Facing Down Urban Shield.
OPD to the Left of Me, OPD to the Right of Me. Caught in the Middle with You All.
Sixty OPD Surround Plaza as Crowd Sings Happy Birthday, Dines on Roast Suckling Pig.
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