This story about American Police Force is shaping up to be a quite wonderful little scandal. It's perhaps a little early to offer a definitive statement of the facts so I'll constrain myself to reasonable interpretations and point out that this is very much personal supposition, opinion, not a definitive statement of facts.
But I would start by saying that American Police Force and their contract to run the empty jail in Hardin, Montana, well, it looks like a group of small time entrepreneurs (not that there's anything wrong with being a small time entrepreneur, I am one myself) who have bitten off rather more than they can chew.
Let's start with the complaints over at Prison Planet:
A private security force whose biggest role is helping the U.S. government to “combat terrorism” is now patrolling the streets of a town in Montana, acting as law enforcement but accountable to nobody and operating completely outside the limitations of the U.S. constitution in a chilling throwback to the brownshirts of Nazi Germany.
No, this isn't the second coming of the Nazis, no it isn't black helicopters from the UN or anything like that. It's something much more prosaic and amusing than that. From Billings, Montana, here's a reasonable over view of what the American Police Force story is:
BILLINGS - The jail in Hardin has been empty for about two years, but on September 4th officials with the Two Rivers Authority, the economic development agency that paid for the facility, signed a contract with a private police firm called American Police Force to fill the jail.
"I think it's a great situation," said Al Peterson the Vice President of Two Rivers Authority. "I have found these people to be wonderful community partners."
The company's website states the U.S. government is their biggest client, but an Associated Press search of two comprehensive federal government contractor databases turned up no record of American Police Force.
So what did AP find out about American Police Force?
The Associated Press has raised questions about the legitimacy of American Police Force. Government contract databases show no record of the company, and security industry representatives and federal officials said they have never heard of it. However, representatives of security trade groups said added secrecy was prevalent in the industry and it was possible the company had avoided the public limelight.
The company's Web site lists as its East Coast headquarters a building in Washington near the White House that holds "virtual offices." A spokeswoman for the building said American Police Force's application to use the address is pending, but incomplete.
OK, so it's either a shell company, a brand new one of a recently incorporated subsidiary of another one. There's more from AP as well:
The lead public figure for American Police Force, Michael Hilton, said more than 200 employees would be sought for the jail and a proposed military and law enforcement training center. That would be a significant boost to Hardin, a struggling town of 3,500 located about 45 miles east of Billings. An earlier announcement that a job fair would be held during the last week never came to fruition. Hilton also said he planned a helicopter tour of the region in coming days to look at real estate for a planned tactical military training ground. He said 5,000 to 10,000 acres were needed to complement the training center, a $17 million project. Ah, now, this is all becoming depressingly familiar. I cannot of course prove anything here, but this has that smell of cow manure (the male kind, you know) that surrounds so many grand plans put forward by small businesses and would be owners of large businesses. Forgive me if I don't detail all of my experiences right here but I've seen this kind of grandeur in the UK, Russia and the US: it's more common than many would normally think. Mike Young picks up on some interesting details: In April 2009, Two Rivers Authority and the Hardin City Council started looking into housing enemy combatants currently detained in Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo), Cuba. A few weeks later (May 15th), a business called the American Police Force (”APF”) registers the domain name AmericanPoliceGroup.com. The next thing you know, APF is trying to contract to build a $27 million private jail and police training center. (Note that that website appears to be down.) However, there's another company registered with similar addresses, on the same server, with personnel in common. The excellent Kevin Flaherty has been looking around at documents. Have a look at that first link for that's what I think pretty much explains it all. There's also this, which is a list of contracts performed by what I assume is a related company. We need add only one more point: I have been on the periphery of this sort of business for the past 18 years: no, not myself supplying the US Government or law enforcement agencies but several business associates have been. Everything from American police cars to the Russian police forces of cities in Siberia to supplying Soviet era (and later) tanks to the US Army. This isn't my area of expertise, but it is something I know about. That list of contracts is indicative of what they've been doing. The US military is fighting two wars at present and the entire logistics train is very stretched. So there are a lot of contracts, small stuff, which gets hired out to just about anybody willing to do the work. If you actually run the numbers, around $30 million of contracts since 2004 is $5 million a year or so of total sales. There's competition for this sort of work so gross margins on sales (they're providing goods here, don't forget, not just their labor) tend to be in the 20% range. So we're talking about a company here with maybe $1 million a year to spend on salaries, profits, overheads and so on. Nice work if you can get it but it's not by any means instant riches: there will be a lot more than just one person eating out of that sum. So what do I think is happening here with American Police Force? I emphasize again that this is opinion, a piecing together of inherent knowledge and publicly available facts, not proof perfect that this indeed what is happening. We've a small time operator feeding on the scraps and tail end of the Pentagon's logistics chain: the sort of contracts they've been doing look remarkably similar to what one associate of mine was doing a decade ago. There are myriads of these companies out there at the moment, all scrapping to get these small contracts. They saw that Hardin, Montana, had built this jail but had no prisoners to put into it. The bonds issued to pay for the jail are in default. So, how hard could it be to construct a story that would fly with the Town Manager? "Yes, yes, we'll sort it all out for you. We've great experience. Don't worry, just sign the contract." In the tradition of so many of these small companies, it's all about getting the contract first. Worry about how to perform, how to complete the contract, once it's all been signed. I doubt very much indeed if this bodes well for the filling up of that empty prison with paying convicts. The one person I might actually feel sorry for is the local newspaper reporter who quit her job to become the press liaison officer for American Police Force on $60,000 a year. I doubt those checks are going to be coming in for all that long darling: you might want to make sure you're still on good terms with your ex-editor.
Comments
Don't feel sorry for the reporter, Becky Shay. She's an idiot.
Unless you have some compulsion to feel sorry for the idiots of the world, that is.
You can start with all the elected and appointed officials in Hardin, who deserve a lot of similar sympathy.
Governor Brian Schweitzer and EVERY Montana state legislator has sworn an oath of office to uphold Montanas Constitution.
End of debate.
Montana Constitution, Article II:
Section 33. Importation of armed persons. No armed person or persons or
armed body of men shall be brought into this state for the preservation
of the peace, or the suppression of domestic violence, except upon the
application of the legislature, or of the governor when the legislature
cannot be convened.
so brusier ... have you called the governor - written your senators? Informed every paper within shouting distance of this?
It's up to the REAL citizens of this great coutnry to stand up to these clowns. Get a mic in front of their faces and expose 'what they don't know or what they did know"
M
A paramilitary outfit on the make just happens to occupy an American town without any civilian oversight or rational explanation? While their (Montana) senator Max Baucus is too busy spending his graft $$ and stopping health care reform to take notice? All paid for with tax dollars, no doubt.
The only good thing I've found in this story is that the Town Mgr that hooked up with APF has evidently been suspended. Tar and feathers would be more appropriate.
Matter of fact "M" yes ....all day long .
It's all over 4 or 5 states.
How 'bout you?
If the Sheriff does not do his job and run these fake police off then it is up to the citizens to do it.
Activist Media LEADING THE CHARGE vueflix.com
I live in Hardin. We have been told by Kerri Smith (mayoral candidate) that everything would be okay if we just go along with APF. That quote is also in the paper. This town has suddenly gotten scary. Our Sheriff Department is now leaving because a "Police Force" is going to be trained to take over. That is in the news too. I am 17. Do I have a future? Moving away from here seems like it would be smart but in the end, a waste of time.
Why so serious, Hardin? So Trey Parker and Matt Stone rented out your jail for their big sequel - what's the problem?
You are worthress, Arec Barrwin!
Read comments to see what a town member says about what is really going on in Hardin, Mt. There is not enough space here.
mikeyounglaw.com
It could be a contingency facility in the event of riots, disasters and what not. The foreign troops could be mercenaries to make up for lack of manpower here, all trained troops in Iraq--Afghanistan--Pakistan--Parts of Asia.
Alex Jones (info wars) and Steve Quayle need to calm down; if first blood time comes, people will know what to do. If Jones is wrong he goes down in flames.
A 5 second search is over your head?
Google really it isn't hard to use...
Here is the info..
-----------------------
defenseproductsolutions.com is hosted on the same IP (97.74.186.121) as americanpolicegroup.com. Both sites feature the same logo.
defenseproductsolutions.com and say ‘hello’ to Edward Angelino.
Other business names associated with him: Allied Defense Systems, Inc. (allieddefensesystems.com) and Defense Consulting Group, Inc. There are almost certainly many more. I only spent ten minutes on this.
----------------------------------
Here is the site with all the dirt... :P
cryptogon.com/?p=109
Again why not look things up instead of just pulling stuff out of the air as truth... The Black Helicopters... Really? You think the Obama is going to take your guns even after he signed the national parks gun bill. That expanded gun rights. (sigh)
nytimes.com/2009/05/20/us/politics/20cong.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss
I am a resident of Hardin. There are many people here that are very concerned about what is going on in our small town. Many of us have asked questions, and we are either ignored or shouted down. Little if any details are being released from the local officials and in my opinion that is only adding fuel to the fire.
In a off the record conversation, with one of the officials of the TRA, the individual admitted that Mr. Greg Smith did have a conversation with the APF regarding police protection for the City of Hardin. The official stated that it was completely inappropriate for Mr. Smith to have such a conversation, and that is part of the reason for being placed on admin. leave. His wife has been offered a position with the APF if she does not win the mayoral election. My greatest concern is that our "officials" do not have the best interest of our community at heart, and maybe selling us down the river, for a few coins in their pocket.
"Captain" Michael's real name is Miodrag Dokovich (aka Michael Hilton). He filed for bankruptcy twice in Santa Ana, CA. It's in public records. I went looking because he was being so secretive. Now we know why. Well, partially.
Would I trust this guy? Hmm... :)
I especially appreciate the residents letting us know what's going on. Besides the kulr8.com site and the Big Horn County News, are there any local bloggers covering the story? Here's hoping it turns out to be just a "Music Man"-type swindle. Hmm, didn't they try to build a monorail in Springfield using this kind of pitch?
I read on another blog that APF was building iron gates to the entrance of Hardin. LOL. Idiots...
I live in Harding and they said these are the new law in town and to respect them.
Get used to seeing these facilities.
Soon you'll be seeing one from the inside.
And most of you will probably enjoy it.
Ditto, Bruiser. And in case you morons who do not get what the big deal is, Mr, Bruiser's words en toto:
Governor Brian Schweitzer and EVERY Montana state legislator has sworn an oath of office to uphold Montanas Constitution.
End of debate.
Montana Constitution, Article II:
Section 33. Importation of armed persons. No armed person or persons or
armed body of men shall be brought into this state for the preservation
of the peace, or the suppression of domestic violence, except upon the
application of the legislature, or of the governor when the legislature
cannot be convened.
- DITTO
Ditto, Bruiser. Shut it, Well?
A quick look over the DPS website makes it go clank. On this page - www.dpsna.com/products.htm - we see this.
. Explosive Ordinance Disposal
Honestly, what self-respecting company associated with defense would allow "ordnance" to be spelled "ordinance"?
Seriously. There's something wrong here.
A quick look over the DPS website makes it go clank. On this page - www.dpsna.com/products.htm - we see this.
. Explosive Ordinance Disposal
Honestly, what self-respecting company associated with defense would allow "ordnance" to be spelled "ordinance"?
Seriously. There's something wrong here.
AFP are telling people to register guns and participating in police power with logos, they have NO right, foreign mercenaries are taking over to do the job americans wont do..Take us to the FEMA CAMP
this is Red Dawn and the SCUM BAGS that let this happen should be exposed and confronted
H1n1=FEMA CAMP
Total hoax, as Nix alluded to. Do your homework first folks.
A quick look over the DPS website makes it go clank. On this page - www.dpsna.com/products.htm - we see this.
. Explosive Ordinance Disposal
Honestly, what self-respecting company associated with defense would allow "ordnance" to be spelled "ordinance"?
Seriously. There's something wrong here.
"A 5 second search is over your head?
Google really it isn't hard to use..."
Umm, Nix, that post is in fact linked in the piece. As is another from the same site. I even recommend that you go read it....
Either "There is a myriad of these companies out there ..." (used as a noun) or "There are myriad companies like this out there ..." (used as an adjective). Not "myriads". That's like saying "There are manys of these companies out there ..." Ouch!
Please people understand that 99% of the hype you are reading on the internet is NOT TRUE. I am a resident of Hardin, MT, I own a business there. There was no 13 Mercedes SUV's rolling in to town, with Hardin Police Dept. logos on them. There was 3. We were upset by this, our Mayor talked to APF and on Friday the decals were removed. APF is not patrolling our streets. APF is not building gates to keep people out. APF is not visiting local businesses telling them to take there guns down and put monitoring devises on them. Yes APF is wanting to contract with the Two River Authority for the use of the empty Detention Center here, yes they say that want to build a military training camp here. The final contract is not signed yet. The greatest concern of the local residents it the lack of information that our "officials" are not telling us. I hate the fact that our "officials" has handled this matter so poorly that they have given my beloved town such a blackeye.
If it isn't a CIA cut out, then it seems its at least an illegal paramilitary force.
Look very closely at the employment page website of the APF employment web page at the eye displayed....look at the right hand corner of the eye and you will see an american eagle behind bars......think about this!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you cannot get to the website....I have a pdf copy of their employment page with this eye on it. Tim can contact me by replying to this post if he needs it to post to this site.....please look very closely at the eye...their website is www.americanpolicegroup.com and then go to the employment page.
I have to agree Becky Shay is an idiot...she answered a call from me from Tennessee at 12:37 pm Montana time from a Tennessee area code and then proceeded to tell me that she had just gotten out of the bathtub to answer my call. My family lives in Hardin and I was going to leave her a message. Assuming the number published on the website for public relations director was a office number....hello, she answered the phone call and was in the bathtub at the time...not what one would expect from a website contact number to contact a professional Public Relations officer and leave a message on her office voicemail for information...that was a little too much information. TLCFROMMT...I am concerned for my family members in Hardin...I was born and raised in Hardin and realize just how stupid one can be if they do not get out and experience the world around them...I am a veteran, an accountant and a government employee...and I started questioning this as soon as I recieved a call from a fam.mem
ratcoc, thank you for the latest report from the ground. There is way too much speculation, which probably disturbs everyone there as much as it is disturbing the rest of the nation. Any additional information is greatly appreciated.
This is a poorly reported story, though a few of the people leaving feedback are properly skeptical of it.
Becky Shay deserves what she gets. She has helped to conceal the true story of this scam under wraps for years, either by ineptitude or design.
What is more is that these people are FOREIGNERS. There is nothing American about them. They use the Serbian Crest as their emblem and this "Captain Michael" has a Serbian accent. They are obviously foreign mercenaries that are being allowed to operate within the US and police citizens. Hardly innocent, I think.
website for americanpolicegroup.com is back up again...
The whole APF website is somewhat surreal. For a "law enforcement" and "domestic security" service they sure have a lot of firepower. Exactly what is the law enforcement and security mission of an Apache attack helicopter with Hellfire missiles. Exactly what armored targets are contemplated? Very strange.
The Serbian crest in all the logos is also very disquieting. I think this bears watching as there is a whiff of something somewhat less than American in all this.
The globe with the chess pieces across it is what's freaking me out!
www.americanpolicegroup.com/contact_american_police_force.html
www.americanpolicegroup.com/images/6page-img1.png
What is a "private police force"? Nothing but a government agency has police powers on public property. If they're allowing "private police force" now, that's a good reason to stock up on ammo...who knows whose agenda they'd be following? Good lord.
The guy is a crook:
"BILLINGS - More questions Wednesday night in Hardin following revelations that American Police Force's founder Michael Hilton owns an extensive criminal record.
It appears Hilton has been involved in several fraud cases and has even spent six years in a California prison.
According to the Associated Press, court documents show that Hilton has $1.1 million dollars worth of outstanding judgments against him. Records indicate Hilton has multiple aliases, and has twice declared bankruptcy.
Fraud cases include luring investors into a fake real estate development project, convincing a couple to give him a silver statue worth $100,000 dollars, and pocketing construction funds.
Hilton landed a six year prison term in 1993 for a dozen counts of grand theft among other charges."
kulr8.com/news/local/63026202.html
To Stephen
"It could be a contingency facility in the event of riots, disasters and what not. The foreign troops could be mercenaries to make up for lack of manpower here, all trained troops in Iraq--Afghanistan--Pakistan--Parts of Asia."
Hey dude, We the American Active Duty Military are only about 10% deployed. The US government is forbidden from hiring Foreign Mercenaries on US soil for the purposes of imprisonment/law enforcement. While, there are some grey contracts with Xe and other paramilitary organizations performing mercenary like actions, most are former US military, and all are US citizens and the Posse Comitatus Act applies to all/any military or paramilitary police force, not just the US military. So get your facts straight before posting.
As far as contigency facilities, I'm not sure, 200 employees / 464 prisoners is overkill, should be more like 60-70, while I am not a conspiracy guy, this is certainly fishy.
I hope they have great health care benefits. If they are attempting to preform police duties as some have claimed, they are not only committing felonies but are putting themselves at risk of being shot dead by the citizens of Hardin.
The politicians of Hardin should be tared and feathered. This is another sad case of people being greedy, and using the tax payers to foot the bill. Although the APF seems a bit scary and odd, it seems they are just jumping on board to grab as many tax dollars as they can, then move on to the next set of uneducated political jack***es.
Truly sad for the people of Hardin ....
Look at the careers page of this so called "American" police force. A picture showing a Serb military man with an AK47!!!
So Darwin was right after all.
Sunlight is a great disinfectant. Now we need to shine a little light on Cheney, Halliburton and the 385m contract to built the FEMA internment camps(Ck Halliburton's website). With a little more fresh air we could expose the thousands of combat military troops that showed up for the G20 party to gas and harrass the folks in Pittsburgh.(in direct violation of posse comitatus) What's left of the Constitution can't be far from the shredder. And you wonder why there's civil unrest?
Hemp Rope, Meet Mr. Neck
Looks like APF has just been connected to Blackwater. APF appears to be a front company for them.
How nice. These murdering mercenaries don't have to go to Iraq to strut their stuff. They can now be deployed right here in the good old United States of Amerika.
Prisonplanet.com has just broken the story.
Come on people! Haliburton, Blackwater, Cheney??? The first two are reputable organizations and oh, by the way, your Congressmen and even Obama demanded Blackwater run their security when they visited Iraq. If that is not a resounding endorsement I do not know what would be. These are some low lifes from Eastern Europe that were not bad enough to compete in the Russian mafia so they came to the land of opportunity. They bottom feed on some minor DOD or sub-contract business, position themselves as BMOC & play the Hardin city officials like a cheap violin. Their website touts English spelling errors, Soviet era hardware and a Spanetz marine with an AK. Don't forget the cloned Serbian crest as a logo. Simply a case of some cheap hucksters running a scam on swome yokels.
Call it what it is, you namby-pamby Examiner shill! It's a death camp!
dubya dubya dubya DOT mininova DOT oh-are-gee / tor / 3000432
Honesty compassion intelligence guts?
We have an ongoing American Holocaust.
Do you still want to believe what you were told about 9/11?
The guilty are busy importing private mercenaries to hide behind.
APF is "compromised" of former SEALS and CIA agents. C'mon who wrote the captions, Nigerians?
anyone got that PDF downloaded the entire site seems to have vanished
Pages
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