The San Francisco Bay Area was the setting once again this year during the 2009 Urban Shield exercises and Safariland was there! Over 27 teams including Boston PD, the French Nationals “RAID” team and the FBI participated in the events which aim to assess overall tactical, fire and EMS skills in a series of real-life scenarios such as Maritime Interdiction, Tubular Extraction, Hostage Rescue and Active Shooter.

Through the generosity and support of Sheriff Ahern and Lt Gary Berge, Safariland’s Creative Services and Marketing teams were able to visit various sites and witness the simulations live as they unfolded. With our POC Deputy Fred Hamilton and members of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team, this unique exercise, which is supported from the Bay Area SUASI Program and funded by Homeland Security Grants, gave all of us an opportunity to see our products in action and how our customers' use them under the most extreme conditions.

Overall, we made it to 13 of the 24 urban exercises over the two-day event and walked away with a new appreciation of whats it's like to be in our customers' shoes as they make the critical decisions that protect us all and keep us safe. For more information on Urban Shield, you can visit them at urbanshield.org.