APF Reveals Little Information

kulr8.com | Sep 28, 2009

By Nick Lough & Katie Ussin

BILLINGS – Confusion and secrecy about American Police Force has grown during the last few weeks.

“APF has been here for 10 months but it has never been stealth,” said APF spokesperson Becky Shay at a press conference on Saturday morning. The group announced its plans to fill the $27 million dollar detention facility and build a police training center next to the jail. While they gave details for the site, other questions went unanswered.

Where will the prisoners come from? What experience does APF have in prisoners and training police officers? Why was Two Rivers Authority Executive Director Greg Smith placed on administrative leave?

During the press conference APF also refused to release any information on its funding or organization “The decision is the name of the parent company will not be released,” said Shay.

When questioned about the decision to show up in Hardin last week in vehicles with “Hardin Police” templates, members were brief in their explanation. “They are to show are intentions are good,” said APF leader Captain Michael Hilton. “Why not put an APF logo on it,” said Shay. “You know we’re getting there.” All of the decals were removed from the vehicles two days later.

APF has consistently stated the community has nothing to fear and says its plans will help stimulate the Hardin economy. “This corporation’s intention is to buy local and stay local and do local business as much as we can,” said Shay.

Residents appear split in their feelings over the company. Some want more information, but others believe it will be a tremendous boost to the area. The company plans to hold a job fair in Hardin the third week of October.

Another development this weekend was the naming of Shay as APF’s new public relations director. Shay was a reporter with the Billings Gazette who had covered the detention facility story for last few years. She announced on Friday she was leaving the paper and hosted the APF press conference Saturday morning.

American Police Force spokesperson, Becky Shay, said the private police group would not house terror suspects from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Last April, the executive director of the Two Rivers Authority expressed interest in housing Gitmo detainees and the Hardin City Council approved efforts to bring them in.

President Obama ordered the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay to close by next January. White House officials are now saying they are most likely not going to meet that deadline. Reuters news outlet reports that an Obama administration official, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the White House is close to selecting a U.S. location for some of the Gitmo detainees to be transferred once the facility closes.

They said possible locations in Michigan and Kansas are no longer being considered, but would not say what sites are in the running. In May, the U.S. Senate voted 90-to-6 to deny the $80-million dollars needed to fund the closure of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay.

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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.” The company also boasts 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.” The group’s members include major security contractors Triple Canopy, DynCorp and Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide.

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BRIAN SCHWEITZER JOHN BOHLINGER
GOVERNOR LT. GOVERNOR
STATE CAPITOL • P.O. BOX 200801 • HELENA, MONTANA 59620-0801
TELEPHONE: 406-444-3111 • FAX: 406-444-5529 • WEBSITE: WWW.MT.GOV
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
STATE OF MONTANA
March 24, 2008
Name
Address
City, State ZIP
Dear:
During the past year, much has been said and written about the Two Rivers Detention Center
(facility) in Hardin. Community leaders and Texas developers met with me and my staff last fall
seeking inmates for the facility. I was in Miles City, Baker, Ekalaka and Broadus meeting with folks
about the new state back up computer center, coal development and other issues of concern to
eastern Montana on Tuesday, March 11 when a delegation visited the Capitol and met with my staff
and representatives of the Department of Corrections (DOC) about the facility. The group delivered
signed petitions inviting me and members of my Administration on a tour of the facility and I look
forward to visiting sometime in the next several weeks.
Accompanying the petitions was a letter from the Executive Director of the Two Rivers Authority and
the Mayors of Hardin and Lodge Grass. The point of the letter was, “We don’t want a handout, we
want a helping hand.” Before discussing how best I might be able to help, I first need to clear up
some issues.
It has been said that the state of Montana committed to providing inmates to the facility
during Governor Martz’s Administration and that I reneged on that commitment.
The fact is that no commitment was ever made by the State of Montana to the facility. No contracts
were ever signed between the state and the facility. Further, the facility did not respond to a project
issued for competitive bid in January, 2006 by the DOC for 120 beds through the state’s “Request for
Proposal” (RFP) process. Finally, the facility did not respond to a “Sources Sought Notice” for 96
secure beds in Montana by the U. S. Marshall’s Service in 2005. According to Bill Slaughter, who
served as Director of the DOC under Governor Judy Martz and during the first year and a half of my
Administration, in testimony before the Corrections Advisory Council on February 12, 2008, “We
didn’t sign any contracts with this group; there are no e-mails or promises. I don’t know what to tell
you. I was actually surprised they were under construction.”
It has been said that as Governor, I can send Montana prisoners needed to open the facility.
Two facts relate to this issue. First, we do not have prisoners to send to the facility. Community
corrections policies that the Legislature enacted and I have implemented are reducing the number of
locked-up non-violent inmates with cost savings to taxpayers and increased public safety. Please
see the enclosed March 9, 2008, Billings Gazette editorial recognizing the success of these policies.
Second, all community corrections services authorized by the Legislature require DOC to obtain
those services through the competitive RFP process I mentioned earlier. This competitive process,
outlined in detail by Director Mike Ferriter to the folks from Hardin on March 11, helps ensure that
corrections professionals, not politicians, make the critical decisions on the criminals sentenced to
the jurisdiction of the DOC. It also helps ensure that the taxpayers are protected against the misuse
of their money. Selecting the facility to perform community corrections services without going
through the competitive process would be against the law.
It has been said that as Governor, I can bring in out-of-state prisoners to open the facility.
The fact is state law does not allow a “detention center” (a fancy name in Montana law for a county
jail) such as the facility in Hardin to house out-of-state inmates. Your own city attorney requested an
Attorney General opinion on this issue. Attorney General Mike McGrath, who is elected by the
people of Montana, issued an opinion on December 3, 2007 affirming that housing out-of-state
prisoners in a detention facility is against the law. That opinion is being challenged in court by the
City of Hardin and the Two Rivers Authority. Until and unless the court overturns the Attorney
General’s opinion, it is legally binding on me as Governor as well as on all state government.
It has been said that as Governor, I should have told you to stop the project after you started
it with no contracts for prisoners.
The fact is according to the Executive Director of the Two Rivers Authority your local government
built a “detention center.” Contrary to the opinion expressed by one member of the delegation here
last week, legally it does make a big difference what you built. Unlike prisons, the state isn’t involved
in building “detention centers.” Those are local decisions. I don’t know a sheriff, police chief or
county commissioner in Montana who wants the state Corrections Department, let alone the
Governor, to start telling them about building county jails. DOC legal counsel Diana Koch explained
the important distinction between prisons and jails to the March 11 delegation as reported in the
March 12, 2008 Big Horn County News, “We understood you were building a detention center, which
is in essence a county jail. We thought you were going to contract with your county, with other
counties and communities, maybe even with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.”
It has been said that economic development in eastern Montana is not a priority of mine.
In fact, I have instructed my economic development staff and the various state departments involved
in economic development to tilt their efforts in economic development to areas “outside the boot”-
predominately eastern Montana counties and areas on or near Indian Reservations. They have
followed that directive and, as a result, we are focused on projects that represent the best chance to
secure economic development in eastern Montana through oil & gas development, increased coal
production, energy projects that range from wind to advanced clean coal technologies, connectivity
and technology advancements such as the new state backup data center in Miles City and
renewable technologies like Sustainable Systems (formerly Montola) in Culbertson.
Projects specific to the Big Horn County, Hardin and Crow Nation area:
• We worked with Hardin local development officials on a wind turbine manufacturing facility
and service facility prospect. In fact, we put Hardin on the short list for the project.
• We supported with infrastructure improvement in the area, as well, including a Montana Coal
Board grant in the amount of $61,709 to the Big Horn County Hospital for roof repairs (the
amount was later increased to $85,555), and a Montana Coal Board grant to Big Horn
County $200,000 for repairs to the Sarpy Creek Road.
• We recommended and the Legislature approved infrastructure improvements assisting the
Crow Tribe, including:
o a $750,000 Treasure State Endowment Program (TSEP) grant to the Tribe to assist in
the construction of a new wastewater treatment lagoon,
o a $500,000 TSEP grant to the Tribe to build a new sewer interceptor, two lift stations,
and sewer laterals in Crow Agency,
• We also supported a Montana Coal Board grant in the amount of $60,000 to the Crow Tribe
for the completion of a preliminary Engineering report for Phases 3 and 4 of its master plan to
improve water and wastewater systems in Crow Agency.
• My Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has worked with Westmoreland Resources,
Inc. (WRI) and the Crow Tribe on the permitting process for a portion of the Tract III Coal
Lease north of the Crow Reservation (for which the Crow Tribe owns the mineral rights),
which would help the Absaloka Coal Mine to continue to operate well into the future.
• We remain committed and have spent substantial time and effort in support of the planned
ethanol facility to be located near the new power plant.
You have asked me for a helping hand. Following are some alternatives the facility, by law,
can pursue.
First, the facility can respond to RFP’s issued by DOC. Montana’s Jessica’s Law, which I signed into
law after passage by the 2007 Legislature, calls for establishment of a low risk sex offender
treatment center of 116 beds. The DOC anticipates releasing the RFP this summer and expects the
selected facility to be operational in early 2009. Also, I believe that the 2009 Legislature will consider
proposals for further community corrections programs.
Second, the facility can negotiate with other detention centers in Montana to house prisoners.
Third, early last week I was briefed by the U. S. Department of Interior/Bureau of Indian Affairs on
conversations they are having with Crow Tribal Chairman Carl Venne about use of the facility. I look
forward to working with you and Chairman Venne to fully explore this alternative.
I know that emotions are running high on this issue in Hardin. I suggest the best way to make
progress is to take your city attorney’s advice, as reported in the Billings Gazette on Wednesday,
March 12, 2008, to stop pointing fingers and try to find some ways to use the facility.
Sincerely,
BRIAN SCHWEITZER
Governor
Enclosure