BERKELEY — A more than six-hour City Council meeting ended in chaos early Wednesday, when several people rushed the dais as the council voted to continue, at least for this year, police department participation in the federal Urban Shield program
Two people were arrested, after ignoring verbal warnings to leave, according to city spokesman Matthai Chakko, who added, “Elected officials should not have to feel threatened or intimidated when facing a decision. That’s inappropriate. It compromises democracy.”
Berkeley Police Sgt. Andrew Frankel said Virginia Cooke, 33, of Oakland, and Samir Shrestha, 31, of El Cerrito, had been cited and released from the city jail after being arrested for interrupting the City Council meeting and resisting arrest. There were no confirmed reports of injuries although a social media post said a protester had been struck in the head.
The vote was 6-2-1, with council members Cheryl Davila and Kate Harrison dissenting and Kriss Worthington abstaining, according to City Clerk Mark Numainville. It came after some council members, by their comments, had hinted they might pull the plug on Urban Shield, only to reverse themselves, after initially appearing to heed the often passionate expressions of concern from dozens of speakers who denounced the program as xenophobic and racist, and at odds with the city’s values.
“Shame. Shame. Shame,” many in the gallery shouted as the meeting, held at the Longfellow Middle School auditorium in apparent anticipation of a large turnout, came to its turbulent end shortly after 12:30 a.m.
A crowd promptly gathered outside on Derby Street, where more than a dozen Berkeley police vehicles were stationed. A protest leader addressing the crowd vowed to shame the council, singling out Mayor Jesse Arreguin.
Earlier in the evening, the council disappointed the audience by approving the purchase of a police “ballistic panel van,” or armored, bulletproof van, for $205,373, with $125,373 in federal Urban Area Security Initiative regional funds and the $80,000 balance from the city’s Asset Forfeiture Fund.
More disappointment came when the council voted to continue for at least another year, pending study by a subcommittee, the city’s participation in the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC). That relationship involves compiling information related to possible threats to homeland security in cooperation with the FBI, but critics say it unfairly targets immigrants and Muslims.
Urban Shield, part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-financed Bay Area Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI). is “a comprehensive, full-scale regional preparedness exercise assessing … response capabilities related to multi-discipline planning, policies, procedures, organization, equipment and training,” according to its website. It involves police, fire and other first-responder agencies.
But critics say Urban Shield is a vehicle to further militarize police, and that it trains officers to treat as enemies the people they are supposed to protect. Several evoked the specter of Ferguson, Missouri, where riots in 2014, sparked by a white police officer’s killing of an unarmed black man, were put down by heavily armed police in riot gear and armored vehicles deploying smoke bombs and flash grenades.
The militarization threat has been exacerbated, speakers said, with the election of president Donald Trump, whom they denounced as a racist and xenophobe.
“You have taken an oath to protect our Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic,” said resident Gene Bernardi, exhorting the council to extricate the city from NCRIC and UASI.
“The Constitution has a domestic enemy: that’s the fascist Trump Administration,” Bernardi continued. “Will you protect our Constitution, or will you be complicit with the corporate-fascist administration?”
Earlier in the meeting, Police Chief Andrew Greenwood said that information obtained through NCRIC has been helpful in solving numerous crimes, including robberies and auto burglaries, and has led to arrests. He and Fire Chief Gil Dong said Urban Shield provided valuable rescue training for an array of emergency situations.
But critics said the city should work instead with organizations such as the Red Cross, Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), and other state and federal agencies, and that terrorism should not be the prime focus of emergency preparedness efforts. Many said the city should invest more in mental health crisis management and treatment.
Davila, during a presentation, cited research indicating that people killed in terrorist incidents in the United States in 2015 and 2016 were far outnumbered by unarmed people killed by police.
