Members of the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office Special Weapons and Tactics Team recently participated in a multi-agency training exercise designed to challenge the skills, knowledge and abilities of tactical teams. Hosted by Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern and organized with the assistance of federal, state and local public safety partnerships, Urban Shield brought together 31 teams from all over California, the United States, Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan. Urban Shield is a one-of-a-kind multi-disciplinary, multi-jurisdictional full scale exercise designed to assess the ability of the region to effectively respond to a large scale, man-made and/or natural disaster.

Out of 31 teams, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s SWAT Team placed fifth, beating out many other full time teams from throughout California and the nation.