UPDATE:  PLEASE SEE  HERE

This is a strange story.  Vehicles showed up in Hardin, Montana, with police emblems on the vehicles….the trouble is Hardin has no police department.  The town contracts with the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Department for patrols, so  just who are these people driving police cars with a Hardin Police Department emblem on them?

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

A couple of days after they arrived, the police emblems were removed from the black Mercedes police cars. It turns out the group sporting the police emblems on their vehicles is American Police Force.

Montana lawmakers want info on secretive California company

Montana legislators said Tuesday they want to know more about a secretive California company that wants to take over an empty jail in the southeastern corner of the state and build a military training center on adjacent property.

The company, American Police Force, has attracted widespread attention with its plans – but won’t reveal its backers or where it would get prisoners for the jail, located in the rural city of Hardin.

With Hardin officials also saying little about the company, rumors have flourished. On a Web site run by right-wing radio show host Alex Jones, a posting claimed that employees of American Police Force had “occupied” the city and started patrolling its streets.

Montana Rep. Bob Ebinger said more rumors were likely until Hardin and the company provide more details.

“Always when things are secretive, you end up getting everybody – on both the right and the left – making suppositions about what’s going on,” said Ebinger, a Democrat from Livingston.

Ebinger and other members of the Legislature’s Law and Justice Committee said they would ask Hardin officials to provide more information about the company.

In addition to taking over the 464-bed, $27 million jail, the company has said it will sink $17 million into a military training center and is seeking 5,000 acres or more for a live-fire training ground.

Company spokeswoman Becky Shay said there were no plans to reveal the project’s financial backers.

“We’re still sitting tight,” said Shay, who took the job with American Police Force last week after abruptly leaving the Billings Gazette, where she had written extensively about the jail over the last several years.

Hardin built the jail two years ago as an economic development project but was never able to find any prisoners.

SOURCE.

In the video below, Mayoral candidate Carrie Smith’s said, “We can’t panic. You just go with the flow and everything will be fine.”

American Police Force Website

If you go to the American Police Force website you will find for your listening pleasure Ravel’s Bolero playing as background music.  The website has photos of “troops”, helicopters and weapons and frankly looks like a website for www.MercsRUS.com.  Under Investigations  they offer an array of services:

  • Police Officer and Security Training
  • International Airline Security
  • Special Forces Training
  • Fugitive Recovery
  • Kidknapping & Ransom
  • Weapon & Equipment Sales – INTL Only
  • Cargo Ship and Cruise Line Security
  • Convoy Security (Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan & more)
  • Military Advisors

And under the Weapon and Equipment Sales they have a large selection for international sale only:

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

Here is a screen shot of their front page….the site seems to periodically be unavailable.

    american police force screenshot

    A number of people have noted that the American Police Force emblem greatly resembles the Coat of Arms of Serbia. I don’t know that it means anything….probably not, but it’s just an interesting side note.

    American Police Force Emblem

    American Police Force Emblem

    Serbian Coat of Arms

    Serbian Coat of Arms

I found an interesting site from Montana that had this to say:

They had shown up earlier in the week with three darkened out Mercedes SUV’s with Hardin Police decals on their side doors. She quickly debunked the fact that they were taking over policing the town and the decals have been removed. The decals included a crest that closely resembles the Serbian-Montenegro national crest making the vehicles look even more official. One of the APF principals, Michael Hilton, was born in Montenegro and has been using the vehicles as a good faith symbol in dealing with Hardin and Two Rivers Authority officials. Michael indicated that they are to be used at the new facility located at 1015 N. Lessard Avenue in Hardin, Montana.SOURCE

I can’t figure out how impersonating Hardin Police is a symbol of good faith, but hey, the whole story is weird.

I don’t know what is going on in Hardin, Montana, but I know what I don’t think…..there’s been wild speculation on the Internet and I don’t believe that these guys are there to run a FEMA camp to re-educate wayward citizens.  I think we will have to just wait and see how this weird tale ends.

The video below has more newscasts regarding American Police Force:

More Information on the Hardin Story

[snip]

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.

[snip]

On Friday, American Police Force announced its first local hire: a reporter for the Billings Gazette, Becky Shay, who has covered events surrounding the jail since its construction. She will be the company’s spokeswoman for $60,000 a year.

Shay said she intended to bring new transparency to the process, but declined to directly answer the first question posed to her: Where is American Police Force getting the money to operate the jail and build the training center?

“I know enough about where the money is coming from to be confident signing on with them,” she said.

Gazette Editor Steve Prosinski said he was first informed about Shay’s decision to leave the paper on Friday. “We weren’t aware that she was talking with them about employment,” he said.

Hilton said he also had a job discussion with Kerri Smith, wife of Two Rivers Authority Executive Director Greg Smith, who helped craft the deal to bring American Police Force to Hardin. Greg Smith was placed on unpaid leave two weeks ago for reasons that have not been explained.

Kerri Smith is one of two finalists in the city’s mayoral race. Hilton said he asked her to call him about possible employment if she did not win the race. REST OF ARTICLE