Urban Shield

California County Wins Fight Against World’s Largest Militarized Police Training Exercise

OAKLAND, Calif. – In an action called “historic” by the program’s opponents, Alameda County Supervisors voted March 27 to end the county’s yearly Urban Shield tactical police disaster training exercise as it currently exists.
For over a decade, the program – mainly funded through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security – has brought law enforcement and emergency responders from around the county and beyond its borders, to drill responses to mass shootings, terror attacks and natural disasters.

Militarization, Surveillance, and Profit: How Grassroots Groups are Fighting Urban Shield

By Nadia Kayyali | EFF | September 3, 2014 While all eyes are on the disturbing evidence of police militarization in Ferguson, are you paying attention to what’s happening with law enforcement in your own back yard? In the San Francisco Bay Area, the answer is yes. A coalition of community groups has come together […]

Oakland activist allegedly fired after police tracked him at protest, alerted his employer

RT | October 29, 2013

An Oakland, CA activist says local police officers sent surveillance footage of him participating in a protest last week to his employer, resulting in his firing Monday.
The activist, who goes by @Anon4Justice on Twitter, tweeted the details Monday morning in what appears to be police use of surveillance footage in combination with private and public records that identified @Anon4Justice and led to his employer.