APF in Hardin, MT (Billings: 2009, lawyer, house)

[Klapton]

So... Anyone know what's going on with "American Police Force" (apparently a Blackwater-type mercenary force) taking over law enforcement operations in Hardin?

[ElkHunter]

You got to be funning. There is no such thing going on.

[ddog241]

Originally Posted by ElkHunter

You got to be funning. There is no such thing going on.

are you sure? been alot of chatter about it.

[Klapton]

Originally Posted by ElkHunter

You got to be funning. There is no such thing going on.

Oh, there's SOMETHING going on. Figuring out what it is appears to be a bit challenging. I was hoping someone more local might have something to report.

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by ddog241

are you sure? been alot of chatter about it.

I have friends in Hardin and stop up there just about weekly. It's a small town. Unless there's some concrete evidence, I'll just shut er down.

[Klapton]

Originally Posted by ElkHunter

I have friends in Hardin and stop up there just about weekly. It's a small town. Unless there's some concrete evidence, I'll just shut er down.

APF In Hardin | KULR-8 TELEVISION - Billings, Montana | Local Top Stories

Originally Posted by KULR

American Police Force officials showed up in Mercedes SUV's that had "Hardin Police" stenciled on the vehicles. The twist, the city of Hardin doesn't have a police department.

APF Comes to Hardin | KULR-8 TELEVISION - Billings, Montana | Local Top Stories

Originally Posted by KULR

A California firm that plans on bringing prisoners to the vacant Hardin jail expects to stay in the area for the next month to evaluate the location.


American Police Force's Captain Michael Hilton tells KULR-8 he'll arrive in Montana late Wednesday night and begin work on Thursday. While APF begins its assessment, many questions remain about the company.
A background check references a business address in Anaheim, California instead of the Santa Ana address listed on APF's website. We called the phone number for the Anaheim address and the person who answered said Michael Hilton rents a room there but does not conduct business from that location.
Two Rivers officials say they remain confident in the group's legitimacy, but are offering no more details at this time. We tried to contact APF's attorney and he did not return our call.

APF arrives with cop car prototype for Hardin

Originally Posted by BillingsGazette

Launching a new police department in Hardin will cost about $1 million, money the city doesn't have.

"If Hardin were going to start a whole police force right now, taxes would be so high nobody would be able to afford to live in Hardin," said Mayor Ron Adams.

Enter American Private Police Force Group.

On Sept. 10, officials from Hardin's economic development arm, Two Rivers Authority, announced that they had signed a 10-year contract with APF to run TRA's idle jail.

Neither Hilton nor TRA officials have released details about APF, except to say it is a legitimate corporation. Hardin and TRA have not been asked to put money toward the APF contract.

Montana News by the People for the People: American Police Force - Montana is Asking Questions

Originally Posted by MontanaFront

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- The Two Rivers Detention Center was promoted as the largest economic development project in decades in the small town of Hardin when the jail was built two years ago. But it has been vacant ever since.

City officials have searched from Vermont to Alaska for inmate contracts to fill the jail, only to be turned down at every turn and see the bonds that financed its construction fall into default. They even floated the idea of housing prisoners from Guantanamo Bay at the jail.

So when Hardin officials announced this week that they had signed a deal with a California company to fill the empty jail, it was naturally a cause for celebration. Town officials talked about throwing a party to mark the occasion, their dreams of economic salvation a step closer to being realized.

But questions are emerging over the legitimacy of the company, American Police Force.

Government contract databases show no record of the company. Security industry representatives and federal officials said they had never heard of it. On its Web site, the company lists as its headquarters a building in Washington near the White House that holds "virtual offices." A spokeswoman for the building said American Police Force never completed its application to use the address.

And it's unclear where the company will get the inmates for the jail. Montana says it's not sending inmates to the jail, and neither are federal officials in the state.

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."

[cedar_bluff_tree_farm]

Elkhunter, there is some story behind it. I'll tell what I know.

Hardin has a prison that was built a couple years back designed to house prisoners from out of state. I believe it was taxpayer funded but I'm not sure. Anyway, it has been vacant ever since.

Recently, a company called "American Police Force" has signed a contract with the prison to fill it with prisoners. They are going to pay a per diem starting in February whether or not the prison is actually filled.

The funny thing is that American Police Force is unknown. The Associated Press has run checks of it and can't find anything about it. The only employees are an attorney and a security guard. It has a "virtual office" in Washington, DC but there is no actual office there. So the dearth of information is trouble to some.

Here is a link to a news article about the American Police Force in Hardin.

[rickers]

Maybe they are going through with the idea to house Gitmo detainees there. There were a rash of posts about that on the Politics and other controversies board a while back.

[mtlogger]

Originally Posted by rickers

Maybe they are going through with the idea to house Gitmo detainees there. There were a rash of posts about that on the Politics and other controversies board a while back.

Bingo - give that man a fat cigar!

[ElkHunter]

I remember that. Bunch of bunk. Hardin needs money and they built a prison and wanted inmates so they could get money. There's no secret police, no Blackwater secrets, there's just a prison, needing inmates. Hell, fill it up, we got enough to do that, don't need any r.......... Outside forces. haha