The struggle against the militaristic Urban Shield training had 10 years long. Many in our church have demonstrated, canvassed door to door, emailed, made phone calls, and sat in at Board of Supervisors meetings. Thank you to all who have been a part of this effort! On Feb. 26th, 13 members of our church spent many hours waiting for their turn to speak in support of ending the SWAT Team competition and the military hardware show, and to support de-escalation techniques in all training scenarios. And, there was a positive outcome. This is been a ten year long struggle – it’s not over yet, but we are much closer to significantly altering the SWAT team centered anti-terrorist focus of urban shield and changing it into something that will meet our county’s needs to be ready for an earthquake, and to train police to DE-ESCALATE rather than escalate delicate situations.

This a fight against white supremacist culture and aggressive policing! The following people made a difference and showed up as representatives of our entire church in front of a room packed with police and sheriff’s deputies – many in full SWAT Team regalia. No other group beside the Stop Urban Shield Coalition had as many representatives as our church!

Please take a moment to thank them when you can: Bev Smrha, Corless Smith , Claudine Tong, Helen Duffy, Clark Sanford, Bill Chorneau, Meri Lane, Emily Stoper, Heather Macleod , Claire Eustace, Steve Thomasberger, Micky Duxbury.