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Blackwater Training US
Police
Wayne Madsen Report
10-15-7
The mercenary firm Blackwater USA is
well known for the controversy involving
its "shoot first, ask no questions"
policy in Iraq. It is also known that
Louisiana's Department of Homeland
Security contracted with Blackwater to
provide public law enforcement services
in New Orleans following hurricane
Katrina. Blackwater is also planning to
establish regional training centers in
Potrero, California and Mount Carroll,
Illinois, billed as Blackwater West and
Blackwater North, respectively.
These training centers, in addition to
Blackwater's Lodge and Training Center
in Moyock, North Carolina -- Blackwater
East -- and a possible fourth rumored to
be slated for the Pacific Northwest --
Blackwater Northwest -- may result in
the establishment of a network of
Blackwater-trained police, sheriffs, and
other police units around the country.
Given Blackwater's dismal record on
human rights and brutality, this spells
trouble for civilian control of police
and paramilitary forces in the United
States, from major metropolitan areas to
small rural towns.
On October 14, the Washington Post ran a
story, which included photographs from
Blackwater's Moyock training center.
However, what was most intriguing was a
photograph of a police and military
patch board at Blackwater's headquarters
that indicated the police agencies that
have sent their officers to Moyock for
training.
Blackwater is secretive about its
non-federal, as well as its foreign
clients, which the Post pointed out
includes Jordan, Azerbaijan, and Burkina
Faso, but a WMR inspection of the
photograph of the police agencies has
yielded the following list of agencies
that have used Blackwater for training:
1. Iowa Department of Natural Resources
2. Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff's
Department
3. Matthews, North Carolina Police
4. Atlanta Police
5. Chillicothe, Ohio Police
6. Charleston, South Carolina Police
7. Port Chester, NY Police
8. Highland, Indiana Police
9. Unalaska, Alaska Police
10. Metropolitan Washington, DC Police
11. Charlottesville, Virginia Police
12. Metropolitan Washington Airports
Authority (Dulles and Reagan National
Airports)
13. St. Louis County Police (Missouri)
14. Queen Anne's County, Maryland Police
15. Prince George's County, Maryland
Police
16. FBI SWAT Team
17. Gloucester Township, New Jersey
Police
18. Tempe, Arizona Police
19. New York Police Department
20. Yonkers, New York Police
21. Fairfax County, Virginia Police
22. Maplewood, New Jersey Police
23. Gastonia, North Carolina Police
24. Tampa Police
25. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA)
26. DeKalb County, Georgia Police
27. Arlington County, Virginia Police
28. Baltimore Police
29. U.S. Coast Guard
30. Suffolk, Virginia Police
31. Franklin City, Virginia Police
32. Milford, Delaware Police
33. University of Texas Police
34. Norfolk, Virginia Police
35. Ottawa-Carleton, Canada Police
36. San Bernardino County, California
Sheriff
37. Plattsburgh, New York Police
38. Chicago Police Department
39. Oregon State Police
40. Los Angeles Police Department
41. Tonawanda, New York Police
42. Special Forces of Colombia
43. Jacksonville, North Carolina Police
44. Harvey Cedars, New Jersey Police
45. Elmira, New York Police
46. Department of Corrections, New
Jersey
47. Lexington, Kentucky Police
48. Willimantic, Connecticut Police
49. Georgia Department of Law
Enforcement
50. City of Fairfax, Virginia Police
51. Alexandria, Virginia Police Special
Operations
52. Illinois State Police
53. Dallas, Texas Police
54. Hamilton, Ohio Police
55. Morganton, North Carolina Police
A number of the police departments that
have been trained by Blackwater have
abysmal civil rights and police
brutality records, most notably the
Chicago Police and Illinois State
Police, both cited by former Illinois
Governor George Ryan as being guilty of
police misconduct in his decision to
commute the death sentences of Illinois'
death row inmates. It was a decision
that likely had much to do with his
indictment by the Bush administration on
corruption charges -- political misuse
of the Department of Justice that has
been seen in the indictments and
investigations of Alabama former
Democratic Governor Don Siegelman and
HealthSouth former CEO Richard Scrushy,
Qwest's former CEO Joseph Nacchio,
Democratic campaign contributor Martha
Stewart, Coastal Corporation's former
Chairman and Democratic contributor
Oscar Wyatt, and Democratic-leaning
trial attorneys around the United
States, as well as the firings of
several U.S. Attorneys who refused to
engage in political prosecutions, and a
Justice Department workup on North
Carolina presidential candidate John
Edwards in 2004.
The training and potential political
indoctrination of police officers by the
extreme right-wing and proto-fascist
Blackwater, coupled with the
politicization of the Justice Department
and U.S. courts, has the potential for
the streets of Chicago, Dallas, Los
Angeles, Atlanta, New York, and
Washington, DC, as well as Chillicothe,
Harvey Cedars, and Elmira to turn as
bloody as the streets of Baghdad and
Fallujah.
Citizens have a distinct opportunity of
confronting their local elected city,
county, and town officials over
Blackwater training of their police
officers. Local officials should be
pressured to reveal the numbers and
identities of officers trained by
Blackwater, the subjects covered by the
training, the revenues spent, and a
public demand should be made to cease
and desist in such training.
Copyright 2005-2007
WayneMadsenReport.com
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