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Hardin Official On APF Deal: "What Have We Got To Lose?"

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Michael Hilton, the American Police Force official who signed a deal to have APF take charge of a prison in Hardin, Montana, may have a lengthy criminal record and a history of alcoholism -- but everyone deserves a second chance.

That's the charitable view of Al Peterson, the Hardin economic development official involved in striking the deal with Hilton and APF.

Asked by TPMmuckraker whether he and his colleagues were aware of Hilton's track record when it got involved with APF, Peterson replied that they were, but were willing to overlook it.

"He was an alcoholic, and everybody knows that," said Peterson of Hilton. "Did he do some not-the-best choices in his personal and professional life when he was not sober? Absolutely. He made some very unwise decisions."

But, argued Peterson, that shouldn't be held against him forever. "Hey, he's served his time," Peterson said. "Is the guy not entitled to try to do something with his life from here on out?"

Peterson also told TPMmuckraker that Hilton is not the CEO or founder of APF. He declined to say who is the CEO, or whether Hardin officials had met with that person. "I met with a lot of different people," Peterson said.

Peterson implied that safeguards were in place to ensure that, if AFP fails to deliver, the city can get out of the deal. But he declined to offer specifics.

"Let's say in two months we get no prisoners," he said. "Hardin's in the same boat we were in before."

But he appeared to think that unlikely. "Has [Hilton] conned us or deceived us?" he asked. "No. He's been pretty up front with us."

Peterson acknowledged that his decidedly forgiving attitude -- especially in regard to someone being put in charge of a prison, and perhaps being granted a near monopoly on force in the town -- was in part prompted by desperation. Since building the prison in 2006, Hardin has been vainly searching for a way to fill it -- even recently offering unsuccessfully to take detainees from Guantanamo. (Peterson called that initiative "a lark" that "certainly got Hardin, Montana put on the map.")

"What have we got to lose? We don't have any money we don't have any prisoners," said Peterson. "This is the best offer we've got on the table."

Of Hilton, he added: "He's a better shot than nothing."

Update: Read TPMmuckraker's full coverage of AFP:

Mysterious Private Security Firm Gets Control Of Empty Jail In Small Montana Town

American Police Force Leader's Long Criminal Record

American Police Force Offers Fugitive Tracking, 'Covert Pregnancy Testing' and More!

Reporter-Turned-APF-Flack: "I Made A Great Career Choice"

Montana Town Reassures Public On APF: "There Are No Commandos In The Streets"

"Captain" Michael? APF Official Admits Title Is Bogus

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48 comments

Recommend Recommend (5)

October 1, 2009 3:10 PM   

Served his time? Which time did he serve for, all of them?

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EH

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October 1, 2009 3:19 PM   

I can sympathize. I've done some not-the-best choices, too.

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October 1, 2009 3:57 PM    in reply to EH

Wanna run a backwater prison system? Apparently that's the new road to redemption.

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October 1, 2009 6:10 PM    in reply to EH

For 18 years? I doubt that.

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October 1, 2009 3:40 PM   

"It wasn't my fault! Liquors drunkened me!
-Homer Simpson

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October 1, 2009 3:44 PM   

I swear this has to be some reality show ruse. That reporter got the truth, so had to be bought off and brought into the show.

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October 1, 2009 3:47 PM   

How much do you want to bet that if this goes through, Al Peterson will be moving from Public Service to a nice job at APF?

John

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October 1, 2009 3:48 PM   

Or a Will Ferrell movie where he'll be some sad sack who decides to start his own Blackwater, and this is a guerrilla marketing campaign.

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October 1, 2009 3:49 PM   

I don't understand. If a town has a prison, doesn't it go through the state to fill it? Where is this private police force going to get prisoners? Just start rounding them up in town, mercenary-style?

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October 1, 2009 3:52 PM   

Or this is a Fox News gambit to create news, to try and pin this on Obama "taking over" and starting "American Police Force". Or just to show how easy it would be and how the Obama administration didn't even investigate or try and stop it.

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October 1, 2009 3:58 PM   

Best line in story is that the town failed to get Gitmo prisoners. I blame Obama.

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October 1, 2009 4:21 PM    in reply to Rockridge

What did Obama have to do with the decision to build that prison?

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njr

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October 1, 2009 6:30 PM    in reply to Johann

decision was made 2002 or 2003, the town floated bonds 2004
maybe someone from Hardin visited the Acorn offices in Chicago and got some free advice???

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October 1, 2009 4:08 PM   

Aston Kutcher is going to jump out any minute. The whole thing is just too funny. Remember the five story Helicopter Hotel scam? That wasn't all that long ago. Then again maybe they're going to do a porn movie at the prison. Nailin Palin in Prison. It can be released at the same time as her book.

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October 1, 2009 4:12 PM   

Best paid town council EVER!

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October 1, 2009 4:12 PM   

The soldier on page 5 of the website is wearing a Russian commando uniform (note the blue striped t-shirt). The Russians are coming!

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October 1, 2009 4:21 PM   

Bless Peterson's heart, he's never been in an AA meeting has he? Who else has anything on this story? This is sooo strange. Or is just me? I'm just grateful I don't live there.

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October 1, 2009 4:27 PM    in reply to bluesplashy

This is all just so damn entertaining!!!

Looks like the AFP is going to need to create some prisoners right quick to keep this contract!

Note to TPM'ers: DO NOT DRIVE THROUGH HARDIN, MT!

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October 1, 2009 4:25 PM   

If Glenn Beck and his ignorant minions catch wind of this ... and decide to go to Hardin to do some investigatin ... things could get interesting.

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October 2, 2009 8:53 AM    in reply to Savannah Evans

When did they ever investigate anything?

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October 1, 2009 4:27 PM   

Hey, Al Peterson. Michael Hilton had a second chance, a third chance, a fourth chance and a fifth chance, etc. In every case his true colors showed through. He in an inveterate con artist who will say and do anything to serve his own interests.

You've been had.

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October 1, 2009 4:38 PM   

I suppose if you are under the influence you can do some really stupid things. However, pre-meditated criminal thought out schemes are not the same thing. The guy is a criminal, booze or no booze. At what point do you loose your right to contract with the public? I think the sanity of the town fathers should be questioned. They have a responsibility to the community to act prudently with taxpayer funds.

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October 1, 2009 4:54 PM   

This must be somebody's idea of what a libertarian paradise would look like. Everybody signs on to a private militia led by a warlord. They build their own prisons and round up anyone that gets in their way. It's Somalia, USA.

Other than a few Chuck Norris wannabees, is there anyone out there who truly wants to live in a society like that. When these people talk about getting government out of their lives, do they ever take a minute to think through what it would mean for their way of life?

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October 1, 2009 8:26 PM    in reply to Virginia

They never think much past "Step 1."

Step 1: Lower taxes.

Step 2: ???

Step 3: Profit!!!

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October 1, 2009 4:57 PM   

What's really going on here is that Hunter Thompson never committed suicide; he's just been lying low and decided it was time to resurface as this character.

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October 1, 2009 5:22 PM   

I figured it out! I know who these guys are!

"In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... The A-Team." Sorry, I meant APF.

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October 1, 2009 6:09 PM   

Some bad things is one thing, but this record shows 'bad things' from 1988 to 2006. That is ridiculous, and I don't care what his excuse was/is. This man has a longggggg criminal record

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October 1, 2009 6:12 PM   

I can't help but smell bad things in this. The web site is a real howler, the general assessment of the front man for this "company" is that he's a con man, through and through, the marks are desperate and it all smacks of a "big store" con game.

Maybe he's got gullible private investors on the string, or there's some other corporation that wants to be silent in the deal, but, I'd put money on this ending badly for the people putting up the money, for the town, and everyone drawn into it....

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October 1, 2009 6:46 PM   

FYI, I got curious about some of the photos, starting with the ones on the "We are not mercenaries" page. They're military-related, with recognizable faces. Here's the source for the middle pic:
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=119086&page=64
(Note: the attribution is wrong--the guy on the left is the former Commander in Chief of the Finnish Navy (Hans Holmstrom). The guy on the right is not Adm. Kaskaela, tho; I think it's the new Navy CiC Rannikko.
Wonder how these guys feel about being faces on APF's site?

The one I'm most curious about, tho, is the b/w photo on the right of that page...


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October 1, 2009 6:47 PM   

What does the town have to loose? How about some giant lawsuit and verdict coming down the pike because due-diligence was not used. If something inappropriate happens to an inmate or one of their employees does something that has awful repercussions, the city will surely get sued for contracting with a known repeat felon.

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October 1, 2009 7:00 PM   

The problem with yer boozehol, see, is that it simply magnifies what is already within. If you are an asshole while drunk, it is because you are an asshole who happens to drink (e.g., George W Bush).

There is something exceedingly fishy about all this, and it won't be settled until, as another TPM reader suggests, we learn the EXACT whereabouts of one Sascha Cohen.

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October 1, 2009 7:13 PM   

C'mon, local goon squad picks somebody up or kidnaps for hire (now that's funny). Court would be where? Judge would be who? Rights read to the kidnapped(?)by what imbecile? What government would be paying to house these hostages? Laughable. Now the inbred quotient is extremely high in Montana, but still.... Of course there won't be any lawsuits because, why? Dick and Lynn Cheney are behind this that's why.
That last statement like the Cheneys was a joke.

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October 1, 2009 7:23 PM   

It all makes sense now, the United States is hosting black sites (for torture) for other countries. Why should all the other third world hellholes get the best black sites? We're #1. We have embraced torture. Thanks George and Dick. Let's make the most of our new found reputation. Let's toast to our new drunk.

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October 1, 2009 7:39 PM   

Drunks with big guns and their own prison? What could go wrong?

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October 1, 2009 7:53 PM   

Hey Michael Moore - here's something for you to cover.

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October 1, 2009 8:04 PM   

The website is a treasure trove. Whoever wrote the copy on there is either not 'Merican or mildly retarded.

"Surveillance is often thought of as a secret activity, but the majority of the time surveillance is conducted within a subjects everyday life to avoid any unwanted speculation or unwanted activities. Video cameras are often announced with signs in dressing rooms or other hidden locations of retail stores to help stop shoplifting.. Cameras and signs are dummies and a lot of the time no recording even actually takes place, but with such extremely simple non-secretive security, the level of crime is reduced."

Uhhh....huh?


This is APF's polygraph machine: http://www.americanpolicegroup.com/polygraph.html

wow. it's so....big.

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GHB

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October 1, 2009 9:34 PM    in reply to fenster1977

Are you sure that's not the machine that goes "ping"?

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October 1, 2009 8:14 PM   

Oh...forgot the best part...on the employment application:

Have you ever been convicted of a felony? (This will not necessarily affect your application.)

Whew...what a relief! Cuz I wanna shoot sum gunz!

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October 1, 2009 8:49 PM   

So if someone stops drinking does that mean they'll be smarter? I don't think you can make much of a case to support that idea.

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October 1, 2009 10:07 PM   

Isn't that the traditional two-headed goose of the House of Romanov?

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October 1, 2009 10:34 PM   

I was once forced to spend a night in Hardin (motorcycles and thunderstorms don't mix). The people I met didn't seem bat-s*** crazy. It must be the economy.

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October 1, 2009 10:44 PM   

"What have we got to lose? [...]" said Peterson.

Your dignity?

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October 2, 2009 1:52 AM   

Hmmm....Peterson seems pretty certain that there will be inmates arriving. There has been talk in the past of relocating Guantanamo inmates stateside, and MT. was one of the locations discussed...

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October 2, 2009 3:56 AM   

You really can't make this stuff up (emphasis added):


When dealing with a kidnapping and ransom situation, you need a private investigator on your side who you can trust and that has plenty of experience in the matter. If not handled properly, worse case, it can result in the loss of life. American Police Force Private Investigators can assist the police or even work on their own behalf. We can aid in the ransom delivery and even possibly uncover who is behind the kidnapping.

Glad to hear that APF can kidnap on their own behalf, and maybe even uncover themselves.

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October 2, 2009 4:04 AM   

This is a "Testimonial", appeals best to the intellectually challenged.

“...If you would like to Email Your Resume to APF please click on the link and send it to us with a brief description of your experience and skills ...”

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October 2, 2009 7:54 AM   

didn't someone figure out this is a subsidiary of Xe aka blackwater? Don't want to spread false rumors, but...

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October 2, 2009 11:16 PM   

Anybody read the "Special Forces Training" page that refers to a "future extensive tactical firearms training facility (ETA Spring 2010)"?

Could this be their intended use for the new digs in Hardin? If so, Mr. Peterson at the TRA is going to be very disappointed by the number of prisoners that brings in.

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