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Budget panel advances UASI grant and MOU after hours of public testimony over 'Urban Shield'
Summary
The Budget & Finance Committee voted to forward resolutions to accept FY2017 UASI homeland security grant funds and an MOU with Bay Area jurisdictions after a marathon public comment period that sharply divided advocates for regional emergency training and opponents who say the Urban Shield program militarizes policing.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Finance Committee voted to forward, with amendments, resolutions allowing the Department of Emergency Management to accept and expend about $22.5 million in FY2017 Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant funds and to enter a regional memorandum of understanding with Bay Area counties.
Deputy Director Mike Dayton of the Department of Emergency Management told the committee the grants support regional disaster preparedness and core capabilities such as planning, communications, mass care and public health. He said San Francisco has invested heavily in personnel and regional coordination and that funds support 39 city positions across five departments.
The items drew more than an hour of public comment. Supporters — including fire, EMS and emergency management officials from multiple counties — said the multidisciplinary Urban Shield exercises and associated training and planning help responders prepare for mass-casualty incidents and natural disasters. An Alameda County EMS supervisor said Urban Shield has trained hundreds of medical personnel and credited the exercise with improved regional preparedness.
Opponents, organized under groups including Stop Urban Shield, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Arab Resource & Organizing Center, urged the board to reject or amend the MOU and pull San Francisco out of Urban Shield. Speakers alleged the program has a history of militarized scenarios, racist or Islamophobic elements and ties to extremist-affiliated vendors. Several speakers pointed to photos and reports from past expos, cited the presence at the expo of controversial vendors and alleged raffles of weapons, and warned that federal funding requirements that emphasize a terrorism nexus can skew priorities.
Committee members acknowledged the divide. Supervisor Norman Yee read amendments into the record that reiterate San Francisco’s opposition to militarized policing and urge that city personnel not attend vendor shows that include military-grade weaponry; the committee adopted language asking the Department of Emergency Management to prioritize disaster-response scenarios and to discourage city employees from attending vendor shows featuring military-grade weapons. Two additional proposed whereas clauses — expressing concern about San Francisco serving as fiscal agent for programs incompatible with city values and signaling possible future legislative restrictions on participation — failed on roll-call votes.
DEM said it has made programmatic changes in response to earlier criticism and that Urban Shield now includes broad emergency-management components such as Yellow Command exercises and community emergency-response participation. Alameda County representatives and an assistant sheriff appearing at the hearing said organizers have adjusted the program after community and board feedback.
The committee took the matter as amended and will forward the resolutions to the full Board of Supervisors with a positive recommendation. The resolutions will return to the board with the newly adopted language and direction for DEM to pursue additional program changes and reporting.
