SWAT Article

10-43: All Units...
with Doug Wyllie, PoliceOne Editor in Chief

October 18, 2010

Video: Tactical teams tested at Urban Shield

29 SWAT teams competed in the 48-hour competition

A lot goes into a tactical team’s response to an active-shooter scenario or a bomb disaster. The San Francisco Bay Area Urban Shield exercise — now in its fourth year — continues to gain national and international recognition as a model for testing and evaluating enhanced regional preparedness across all disciplines of public safety and major disaster response.

The purpose of Urban Shield, one of the largest SWAT exercises/competitions in the United States, is to test various departments’ approaches to these types of situations. Just under 30 teams attended this year's event in the Bay Area, including several from overseas, including Israel and Jordan.

Having personally witnessed a significant portion of the 48-hour continuous exercise — which was hosted by 19 agencies and held in more than two dozen locations throughout a 700 square mile swath of the Bay Area — I can say without equivocation that the planners achieved those five goals mentioned at the start. We’re proud to have had the opportunity to have had so much access to so many elements of Urban Shield 2010.

Check out the video below, as well as my continuting coverage here on PoliceOne.

About the author

Doug Wyllie is Editor in Chief of PoliceOne, responsible for setting the editorial direction of the website and managing the planned editorial features by our roster of expert writers. In addition to his editorial and managerial responsibilities, Doug has authored more than 500 feature articles and tactical tips on a wide range of topics and trends that affect the law enforcement community. Doug is a two-time (2011 and 2012) Western Publishing Association "Maggie Award" Finalist in the category of Best Regularly Featured Digital Edition Column. Doug is also a member of the Public Safety Writers Association and an Associate Member of the California Peace Officers' Association. Even in his "spare" time, he is active in his support for the law enforcement community, contributing his time and talents toward police-related charitable events as well as participating in force-on-force training, search-and-rescue training, and other scenario-based training designed to prepare cops for the fight they face every day on the street.

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