Urban Shield Trade Show Rolls into Bay Area

Sept. 06--The $250,000 armored personnel carrier was impressive, in an intimidating way. The robot cameras that could take a bullet and keep moving offered a quantum leap in safety during shootouts, and the .308-caliber sniper rifle could drop a target at 870 yards.

But that's not what really struck Redwood City SWAT Officer Rick Meure at Friday's Urban Shield vendor display, the biggest trade show of the year in the Bay Area for local law enforcement and emergency crews.

He liked the dummy spurting fake blood from a jagged leg stump. It's not that he's a ghoul -- it's just that you don't often see a $50,000 dummy that closely approximates the sort of horrors that cops encounter all too often.

"Look at this medical equipment here, look at the dummy, look at the technology -- it's amazing," Meure said, waving a hand at the bustling booths at the Oakland Marriott Convention Center. "Sure, there's gun stuff, but we need the other equipment, too. And this is an extremely useful place to see that."

The militarization of police forces has become a hot debate topic since heavily armed officers confronted protesters in Ferguson, Mo., after a white officer fatally shot an unarmed black teenager last month. Images of police seemingly decked out for war had critics asking whether such displays might inflame, rather than calm, situations.

But the hundreds of officers and brass swarming the trade show Friday had only one take on all the equipment on display: From the BATT-V armored carrier capable of repelling .50-caliber rounds to the S.W.A.T.-brand boots a few booths away, with their extra-nonslip soles, everything was a tool for police coping with an increasingly dangerous world.

The same thinking goes for drills that will happen this weekend all over the Bay Area, including simulations of a terrorist attack at the Golden Gate Bridge, an airliner crashing into the bay and a building collapse at Moffett Field.

"More and more people are getting their hands on high-powered rifles, we have terrorism threats -- it's not easy out there," said Alameda County sheriff's Capt. Garrett Holmes, who helped organize the drills. "And, as command staff, our chief concern is making sure when we send our people that they are prepared for the opposition they face, and they can come home safely.

"Remember, these officers are your neighbors," Holmes said. "They are husbands, wives, fathers, soccer coaches. We just want to use the equipment and the scenarios we will drill on this weekend to make things safe for everyone."

That's not how the coalition of protesters called Stop Urban Shield Oakland sees it. The group mustered more than 100 to wave signs outside the Marriott on Friday, decrying the increasing might of police forces. They blocked traffic on Broadway until about 7 p.m.

Its main organizer said he sees not neighbors, but oppressors when he watches an armored vehicle fill with officers.

"The history of the militarization of police is that it leads to oppression of poor and minority people, and that's what we will see more of if this goes unchecked," said Ali Issa of the War Resisters League. "Our message is, we don't want Oakland to be a testing ground for war games."

Urban Shield, now in its eighth year, was started by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, which still coordinates it. The idea is to drill area agencies in readiness for extreme situations, disasters and terrorist attacks.

This year the event will involve about 200 law enforcement organizations, mostly city and county police agencies but also U.S. Army and Marine personnel and police from Singapore and South Korea. About 3,000 nurses, ambulance workers and other volunteers will bring the number of people involved in the drills to 5,000.

The $1 million cost of the four-day event is funded by the federal Department of Homeland Security.

Paul Miyamoto, assistant sheriff in San Francisco, said the chance to drill with hundreds of other agencies is invaluable, and far outweighs any concerns over militarization.

"This is the one time of the year when we get an opportunity like this to view the new technologies -- which can be a force multiplier -- and for all of us in the region to come together," Miyamoto said. "The whole idea is to be prepared. Who wouldn't want that?"

Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: kfagan@sfchronicle.com

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