[adrotate banner=”1″]In Libertopia, all things are privatized to for-profit businesses, even the army, fire department, and police. We saw some of how this is a bad idea with Blackwater (or Xe as they are trying to call themselves now) basically causing all sorts of problems in Iraq. Now security firms are attempting to set up private police forces, and one has been chartered in Hardin, Montana. Originally to help take over a $23 million jail built in 2007 that has remained empty (and was one of the potential places for Guantanamo detainees to be sent), the story has evolved into something more sinister that has shades of paramilitary takeovers, giant corporations doing whatever the hell they want, and even Robocop. You down with OCP? You know me…

CBS link

HARDIN, Mont. (CBS/AP) This is the strange story of how American Police Force, a little known company which claims to specialize in training military and security forces overseas, has seemingly taken control of a $27 million, never-used jail, and a rural Montana town’s nonexistent police force.

After arriving in this tiny city with three Mercedes SUVs marked with the logo of a police department that has never existed, representatives of the obscure California security company said preparations were under way to take over Hardin’s jail, which has no prisoners.

Significant obstacles remain – including a lack of any contracts to acquire prisoners from other jails or other states.

And on Friday came the revelation the company’s operating agreement for the facility has yet to be validated – two weeks after city leaders first unveiled what they said was a signed agreement.
….

But the company’s flashy arrival this week stirred new questions. The logo on the black Mercedes SUVs said “City of Hardin Police Department.”

Yet the city has not had a police force of its own for 30 years.

The American Police Force has a cryptic website (parts of it have been scrubbed since the story broke)

APF draws upon their vast global network of highly ranked officers and government officials providing private investigative services unparalelled to any operation in the industry worldwide. Their vast network of senior government officials both domestic and international, combined with their former law enforcement colleagues and current workforce, APF is considered the best global special taskforce team in the industry.
American Police Force is recognized as one of the top security and investigation forces in the world, APF leverages the talent and expertise of their extensive global network to provide local, regional, and national security solutions to the United States Government and other clients who are in need of investigative services. APF is known for their level of quality and professionalism.

Infidelity, Adultery, Cheating, and being unfaithful might all have a different definition in your mind but at APF its a category all by its lonesome. Married husbands and wives will typically call untrustworthy loved ones adultery or infidelity. In the non-marital relationships its commonly known as cheating and we can help you figure out what’s really going on.

Its not against the law to cheat but it’s a violation of trust and can drag someone down because of how hurtful it makes married couples feel. APF can get you results, and will talk with you for a free private investigator consultation and action plan to stop the cheater or simply figure out whether it’s true or not.

The same section mentions doing Covert Pregnancy Checks, which is pretty weird.

Don’t worry,

We are NOT a Mercenary Army

Oh, wait…

o We have rapid response units (RRU) awaiting our orders worldwide.
o We are capable of assembling a up to one special forces battallion within 72 hours.

American Police Force (APF) offers the world’s finest products and services to the military, police, and security professionals. We present to you our comprehensive product category list:

Weapons & Equipment Sales – INTL ONLY

o Security Systems Military Supplies.
o Duffle bags, tritium compasses, Alice packs, pistol belt, thermo gear, 1st aid kits, and M17 bags.
o Shields, riot gear, police and military uniforms, cooling vests, body armor, ballistics vests, hazmat suites.
o Police Cars, trucks, command and control vehicles, fire trucks, ambulances, towing trucks, fuel trucks, general shop vehicles, passenger busses, vans, water transport trucks, 4 WD trucks and other specialty vehicles.
o All United States made handguns, shot guns and U.S. major selection weapons.
o Fire Machine Guns and associated accessories including cleaning kits.
o 9mm hand guns & AK 47’s.
o Unit level armors kit, ammunitions.
o Telecommunication (Thuraya Satellite telephone, cell/mobile phones, Motorola GP 320 Handheld UHF/VHF Radios, battery cells and more).
o IT Systems (computers, laptops, fax machines, copiers, scanners, cartridges, scanners, printers, etc).
o Body Armor, batons, fire glass riot helmet, and shin guards, & megaphones.
o Armored cars and vehicles (Vans, SUVs, Cars, and trucks).
o Police riot equipment.
o Force Protection- WMD.
o Nuclear/Biological/Chemical (WMD).
o Monitoring and Access Control Systems.
o X Ray, robot systems, mine clearing, tools, explosives/perforators, and disposal containers.

Luckily, everything on the company is on the up-and-up!

An attorney for American Police Force, Maziar Mafi, describes the Santa Ana, Calif., company as a fledgling spin-off of a major security firm founded in 1984. But Mafi declined to name the parent firm or provide details on how the company will finance its jail operations.

“It will gradually be more clear as things go along,” said Mafi, a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer in Santa Ana who was only hired by American Police Force a month ago. “The nature of this entity is private security and for security purposes, as well as for the interest of their clientele, that’s why they prefer not to be upfront.”

[…]

However, an Associated Press search of two comprehensive federal government contractor databases turned up no record of American Police Force.

Representatives of security trade groups said they had never heard of American Police Force, although they added secrecy was prevalent in the industry and it was possible the company had avoided the public limelight.

“They’re really invisible,” said Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president and counsel for the Professional Services Council. The group’s members include major security contractors Triple Canopy, DynCorp and Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide.

“Even a single unclassified contract in the last couple of years should show up” in the federal database, Chvotkin added.

Spokesmen for the State Department and Defense Department said they could not immediately find any records of contracts with the company. The city has not released a copy of its agreement with American Police Force. But the deal as announced would be a sweet one for Hardin, a depressed rural town of 3,500 about 45 miles east of Billings.

More mysteries about the company:

Separate research efforts by The Billings Gazette and others turned up connections and similarities between the APF Web site and sites for other little-known defense procurement companies.

All of the Web sites share similarities in design, and some include exactly the same phrases, a red flag to Kevin Flaherty, an American blogger living in New Zealand who writes about private military contractors.

Flaherty, owner of the Cryptogon blog, said that plans by APF to provide Hardin with a homeless shelter, computers for schools, free meals for the needy and an animal shelter “read like something out of The Onion,” a satirical newspaper.

Flaherty said his online research revealed “a lot of weirdness to chase down.”

Public records show that the APF Web site, Americanpolicegroup.com, was first registered on May 15, about two weeks after an effort by the Two Rivers Authority to pursue prisoners from Guantanamo Bay made national headlines.

A section of text on the APF site refers to the company’s “U.S. Training Center,” and matches word for word text from the Web site for Xe, formerly Blackwater. That company’s U.S. Training Center is touted as the largest facility of its kind.

APF representatives have said that their company is a subsidiary of an undisclosed parent corporation founded in 1984. Blackwater was started in 1997.

Public Internet records show that the APF Web site is one of six hosted on a single Web server, including a site for Defense Product Solutions.

Both share the same double-eagle logo, and the same company, Purepoint Design, developed both Web sites. No one answered a call to Purepoint’s office in Newport Beach, Calif.

A section of text on the Defense Product Solutions Web site matches word for word text found on Web sites for Allied Defense Systems and Defense Logistic Services, all promising a similarly exhaustive range of military products and services.

Public records for those companies and others with similar Web sites – including Defense Contracting and Consulting, and Worldwide Military Exchange – all show connections to Edward Angelino, a government contractor in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Cops are not happy at these for-profit businesses, and not because the cops fear losing their jobs.

Does this coat of arms look familiar? It is on the SUVs driving around town pretending to be the City of Hardin Police, even though Hardin does not have police!

It is a Serbian coat of arms!
There is also this modified version off of their website:

The leader of American Police Force, “Micheal Hilton”, is an immigrant from Montenegro.

Crytogon has done a lot of work digging stuff up on him.

Beginning in 1993, Hilton spent six years in prison in California on a dozen counts of grand theft and other charges including illegal diversion of construction funds.

American Police Force’s leader Michael Hilton has a long criminal history, detailed at the TMP link

• 1988: Hilton arrested in Santa Ana, Calif. for writing bad checks.

• April 1990: Hilton is again arrested in Santa Ana for writing bad checks and for grand theft.

• 1992: A civil judgment of $83,000 is entered against Hilton and Ilia Dokovich.

• March 1993: Hilton pleads guilty in Orange County court to 14 felonies, including 10 counts of grand theft. One charge involves a $20,000 real estate scam, in which Hilton persuaded an associate to give him a deed on property in Long Beach, Calif., saying it was to be used as collateral on a loan, then sold the property to someone else. According to the AP, he spends six years in prison in California.

• 1999: A small claims judgment is entered against Hilton for $3,979.

• 2000: the same plaintiff obtans another small claims judgment against Hilton in Los Angeles County, this one for $1,852.

• March 2000: Hilton is accused of fraud, larceny, and breach of contract, in connection to a venture in which Hilton and others recruited the plaintiff to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to create collectible Super Bowl commemorative coins. According to the complaint, Hilton and the others said the money would be used for the design and manufacture of the coins and for a license to produce them from the National Football League — but the NFL never issued a license. Hilton is ultimately ordered to pay the plaintiff $200,000.

• Around the same period: Hilton also faces two similar fraud suits: In one, he’s accused of posing as a fine arts dealer to deceive a Utah couple into giving him a $100,000 silver statue. In the other, he is said to have teamed with a doctor to recruit investors for a southern California assisted-living facility that was never built.

• November 2002: Hilton files for bankruptcy, in order to avoid eviction by his landlord.

• March 2003: Hilton is arrested for DUI in Huntington Beach.

• February 2004: Hilton files for bankruptcy once more, again to avoid eviction.

• January 2006: A $5,052 judgment lien is entered against Hilton in Orange County, CA.

Don’t you feel safer with this guy on the streets?
Here is more details on how Hilton does big scams.

Former Billings Gazette reporter and now $60,000/yr American Police Force Company Spokeswoman Becky Shay had this to say to her former employer when quizzed about Hilton’s checkered past:

When asked on Wednesday about Hilton’s business dealings before his involvement with APF, company spokeswoman Becky Shay said, “That information is not going to be made available at this point.”

“That’s his private business. He is a man who distinguishes between private and business, between personal and corporate,” she said.

Shay said she would check with Hilton for a comment about his DUI arrest, but did not provide further details.

She did not respond to an additional call made later Wednesday seeking more information about Hilton’s other past legal problems.

My favorite part of the scam is this:

Hilton has also pledged to build a $17 million military and law enforcement training center. And he’s promised to dispatch security to patrol Hardin’s streets, build an animal shelter and a homeless shelter and offer free health care to city resident’s out of the jail’s clinic.

Yes, he will build a giant complex with FREE HEALTH CARE in the middle of Montana. Just in exchange for the right to turn the area into a police state so he can run off with millions. Yeah.

More spooky stuff:

APF also offered a job to Kerri Smith (a candidate for mayor) if she loses the race. – Kerri’s husband is Greg Smith, the executive director for TRA who helped craft the deal to bring American Police Force to Hardin. – Kerri Smith said of the mystery and lack of answers: “Don’t panic, just go with the flow and everything will be fine.” – Greg Smith was placed on paid leave an no one – ot even his wife – will explain why.

APF’s attorney is Maziar Mafi, an Iranian-American – Filed petition to the White House in 1999 seeking to waive fingerprinting for the Iranian soccer team upon arrival to the US – Called APF a fledgling spin-off of a major security firm founded in 1984. But Mafi declined to name the parent firm or provide details on how the company will finance its jail operations. – Hired only a month ago

APF was incorporated in California in March, soon after Hardin leaders desperately announced that the empty jail could be used for Guantanamo Bay terrorism detainees. – APF claims to be a private security company, but does not show up in existing government contract databases. – APF claims to have “rapid response units awaiting our orders worldwide” and that it can field a battalion-sized team of special forces soldiers “within 72 hours.” – APF says they have between 16 and 28 people in the U.S. and 1,600 contractors worldwide. – Defense Department, State Department, and security industry representatives say they have never heard of APF. – APF does not show up in federal government contractor databases. – APF’s logo is a Serbian coat of arms. – APF’s Washington DC office is a ‘virtual’ office building – A spokeswoman for the building said American Police Force never completed its application to use the address. – Also in the building is the Uighur American Association – 22 Uighurs were detained in Guantanamo, having been trained in al Qaeda terrorist camps

– APF plans to operate a training facility for military and law enforcement in addition to the jail. – APF announced that they would begin construction of their training facility last week, and that the facility would be ready this fall. – Two weeks after city officials claimed to have signed an operating agreement with the city, the agreement was yet to be signed. – The training facility will cost $17 million and cover 5,000 to 10,000 acres – Hardin officials say that Montana prevented its efforts to find prisoners, but Montana Department of Corrections is not involved.

COMMANDEERING JURISDICTION APF officials arrived in town on three Mercedes Benz SUVs bearing Hardin Police Dept. markings. – Hardin has not had a police force in 30 years. – The Big Horn sheriff’s office has jurisdiction – No contract has been signed with APF – and the contract is only supposed to cover the jail – When asked how this happened, Two Rivers Authority (TRA) vice president Al Peterson answered: “I have no idea. I really don’t because that’s not been a part of any of the discussions we’ve had with any of them.” – Peterson continued: “That was never in the contract to begin with. I think it was on a wish list of what Captain Michael wanted to do here.”

So what is going on? Is it a private police force? A branch of a yet unnamed private security firm? A giant hoax perpetuated by a scam artist to bilk a Montana town out of millions? Whatever it is, it is a giant travesty that this thing got this far without any oversight at all. This is freaking ridiculous. Anyone who spent even one second doing research would see this is a bad idea from the get-go. Putting aside the normal revulsions of a for-profit police force, this particular outfit is a huge mess and should have sent of billions of red flags. The town seems desperate to find a way to fill the $27 million jail they built, but there had to be other avenues than letting a slimy drifter ooze in and turn the town into something out of a bad paramilitary book.

Oddly enough, this has right wingers TERRIFIED! You would think they would love privatization and the paramilitary masturbatory garbage that this looks like, but many of them are scared and blaming this on Obama’s secret FEMA police camps. Yes. Others see the Serbian coat of arms as proof of Obama sending UN troops to take over America. Beyond the usual scream machines, a few sane right wingers thankfully see this as horrible and are trying to sound the alarm as well. And it is nice seeing them against privatization of public services.

Here are some nice header images off of the American Police Force website, for the paramilitary friendly!







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Thanks to dm, ChlamydiaJones, tonelok, Blockade, and others!