There has been a lot of discussion on various blogs (including here on DU) about AP news reports that a mysterious company called "American Police Force" has contracted with the Two Rivers Authority in Hardin, Montana to take over their empty prison (and/or take over policing duties for the town of 3000, which doesn't have a police force). (A sample article from the Billings Gazette:
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-... )
A number of people have suggested links to Blackwater, which is perhaps a natural assumption given our fresh memories of the Bush Administration, and these assumptions were bolstered by language on the company's web site (
www.americanpolicegroup.com ) which appears to draw from a Blackwater subsidiary:
http://www.americanpolicegroup.com/special... Our extensive tactical firearms training facility, the U.S. Training Center is capable of providing a wide range of instruction and training for all types of law enforcement organizations. From basic firearms training to complex SWAT tactics our corps of instructors can meet all your training requirements.
The U.S. Training Center
is a Blackwater (Xe) company, and
the website for the U.S. Training Center has the exact same quote the APF site has. So the conclusion that it is Blackwater is perhaps understandable, but hasty.
Further perusal of the APF website finds that they've cobbled together quotes from a variety of defense and security contractors and private investigators. For instance, under "Experience" on their primary home page, they claim to have "years of experience and vast global resources to provide timely and professional international investigation services." Some company called
PDI Investigations in Missouri makes the exact same claim.
It gets better:
Under "Investigative Services" on their "American Private Police Force" page, they reassure the reader that: "In all cases, private detectives and investigators assist attorneys, businesses, and the public with a variety of legal, financial, and personal problems."
As luck would have it, that's exactly what the
Career Information page for Private Investigators says on the Junior Achievement Center's web page.
The "American Police Force" also provides Cruise Line Security: "Cruise ships are like a small city where passengers are encouraged to forget their troubles and relax once onboard ship. It is natural for passengers on vacation to let their guard down, especially when out to sea in a resort-like setting. My advice: Don't let a false sense of security aboard a cruise ruin your vacation by becoming a crime victim."
If that precise language sounds familiar to you, it's probably because you read
this article about protecting yourself while on cruise ships at the "Crime Doctor" web site.
And the list goes on.
*****
When I initially saw the dustup about the secret police force and looked at the website, I thought it might be some weird attempt to promote a movie or something. But considering what we know of who represents "American Police Force" as a company, I think a good old-fashioned scam is much more likely. After all, the public face of the company, Michael Hilton, has already done time for construction fraud:
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-... Public records from police and state and federal courts in California show that Michael Anthony Hilton, using that name and more than a dozen aliases over several years, is cited in multiple criminal, civil and bankruptcy cases, and was sentenced in 1993 to two years in state prison in California.
Hilton pleaded guilty in March 1993 to 14 felonies, including 10 counts of grand theft, one count of attempted grand theft and three counts of diversion of construction funds, according to Orange County court records. He was sentenced to two years in prison, but it is unclear how much time he served.
According to
this Billings Gazette article, the APF's "director of legal affairs" is named Mazair Mafi. I don't know if it's the same Mazair Mafi who
is a personal injury lawyer in California, but that's the first google hit that turns up on the name. And of course, it's also worth noting that, according to the
APF's contact page, the Public Relations Director for this huge, 25-year-old security firm (which can not only train military forces in cutting-edge counter-terrorist techniques but can also, conveniently, be hired out to investigate a cheating spouse) is Becky Shay, who until a few days ago was a beat writer for the Billings Gazette. (I say that not to disparage journalists, Ms. Shay, or the Billings Gazette itself--but it seems odd that a company like Blackwater would pluck a staff reporter from a small regional paper to be the PR director of such an operation.)
Anyway, I know a lot of people (on DU and elsewhere) are worked up about this mystery and in particular about the Blackwater connections, so I just wanted to throw that information out there.
