New trend has mercenaries training local police!
WASHINGTON - August 3, 2009 - There are many police and law enforcement officials who are concerned with the growing trend of using military-experienced mercenaries to train and work with local police officers in the United States, but there are many who believe the events of September 11, 2001 dictate the need for this new paradigm.
For example, Kentucky’s Lexington Police Department contracted Blackwater Security International to provide what’s described as homeland security training. Meanwhile that city’s Mayor, Jim Newberry, and its chief of police, Anthony Beatty, refused free training provided by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement federal program that prepares police officers to enforce immigration and border security as part of their duties.
Lexington is on the nation’s list of so-called Sanctuary Cities, in which police officers are prohibited from working with ICE or Border Patrol agents in the United States. Critics are angry over the use of local tax dollars to hire Blackwater personnel to train the police.
But Lexington isn’t the only city using hired guns to help local police officers. In New Orleans, heavily armed operatives from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of that beleaguered city.
Some of the mercenaries were reportedly deputized by the Louisiana governor and were issued gold Louisiana State law enforcement badges to wear on their chests and Blackwater photo identification cards to be worn on their arms.
While they are working in Louisiana, Blackwater officials say they are on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the authority to use lethal force if necessary. Some of the mercenaries assigned to patrol the streets of New Orleans recently returned from Iraq, where they provided personal security details for the former head of the U.S. occupation, L. Paul Bremer, and the former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte.
Blackwater, which is based in North Carolina, is one of the leading private security companies providing security personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. Along with other companies such as Wackenhut Security, Inc., it has several lucrative U.S. government contracts and provides security services - including bodyguard work - for many senior U.S. diplomats, foreign dignitaries and corporations.
The company received international exposure when several of its security officers were captured, tortured and killed in Fallujah; two of their charred bodies were hung from a bridge in March 2004.
Although many politicos are saying Blackwater is not performing police functions, their own statement seems to imply that they will provide whatever services a government - federal, state and local - desires.
For example, Kentucky’s Lexington Police Department contracted Blackwater Security International to provide what’s described as homeland security training. Meanwhile that city’s Mayor, Jim Newberry, and its chief of police, Anthony Beatty, refused free training provided by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement federal program that prepares police officers to enforce immigration and border security as part of their duties.
Lexington is on the nation’s list of so-called Sanctuary Cities, in which police officers are prohibited from working with ICE or Border Patrol agents in the United States. Critics are angry over the use of local tax dollars to hire Blackwater personnel to train the police.
But Lexington isn’t the only city using hired guns to help local police officers. In New Orleans, heavily armed operatives from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of that beleaguered city.
Some of the mercenaries were reportedly deputized by the Louisiana governor and were issued gold Louisiana State law enforcement badges to wear on their chests and Blackwater photo identification cards to be worn on their arms.
While they are working in Louisiana, Blackwater officials say they are on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the authority to use lethal force if necessary. Some of the mercenaries assigned to patrol the streets of New Orleans recently returned from Iraq, where they provided personal security details for the former head of the U.S. occupation, L. Paul Bremer, and the former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte.
Blackwater, which is based in North Carolina, is one of the leading private security companies providing security personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. Along with other companies such as Wackenhut Security, Inc., it has several lucrative U.S. government contracts and provides security services - including bodyguard work - for many senior U.S. diplomats, foreign dignitaries and corporations.
The company received international exposure when several of its security officers were captured, tortured and killed in Fallujah; two of their charred bodies were hung from a bridge in March 2004.
Although many politicos are saying Blackwater is not performing police functions, their own statement seems to imply that they will provide whatever services a government - federal, state and local - desires.
