Small Town To Be Lorded Over By Thugs

Hilton showed up in vehicles with this phony police emblem

American Police Force Corporation Takes Over Small Town Police Force and Prisoner-Less Jail

"HARDIN, Mont. (CBS/AP) This is the strange story of how American Police Force, a little known company which claims to specialize in training military and security forces overseas, has seemingly taken control of a $27 million, never-used jail, and a rural Montana town's nonexistent police force. After arriving in this tiny city with three Mercedes SUVs marked with the logo of a police department that has never existed, representatives of the obscure California security company said preparations were under way to take over Hardin's jail, which has no prisoners."

"The agreement with American Police Force has been heavily promoted by members of the city's economic development branch, the Two Rivers Authority. Authority Vice President Albert Peterson on Friday repeated his claim to be “100 percent” confident in the company. 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."

From Pro Libertate - "What appears to be happening here -- and until relevant details are pried out of the prehensile grip of the people running things, we can't know for sure -- is nothing less than a corporatist-style military coup: the takeover of a small town in Montana by a politically connected, federally subsidized paramilitary organization."

Taking privatization to it's insane conclusion. The Blackwater type company will take over an empty jail and promise to fill it although both the state and the feds say they have no plans to send prisoners there. Presumably the APF means they'll find adequate numbers of inmates among the citizenry of Hardin.
Here's the company's reassuring banner:



The county sheriffs should throw these posers out of the state. I'm sure we'll shortly see some interesting revelations about this organization.
Whoa, that didn't take long.
Yeah I'd love to see this guy and his crew patrolling the streets.

Hardin Jail Entrepreneur Has Checkered Past

"BILLINGS – Michael Hilton pitched himself to officials in Hardin, Mont. as a military veteran turned private sector entrepreneur, a California defense contractor with extensive government contracts who promised to turn the rural city's empty jail into a cash cow.Hardin's leaders were desperate to fill the $27 million jail, which has sat empty since its 2007 completion.So when Hilton came to town last week — wearing a military-style uniform and offering three Mercedes SUVs for use by local law enforcement — he was greeted with hugs by some grateful residents. The promise of more than 200 new jobs for a community struggling long before the recession hit had won them over.
But public documents and interviews with Hilton's associates and legal adversaries offer a different picture, that of a convicted felon with a number of aliases, a string of legal judgments against him, two bankruptcies and a decades-long reputation for deals gone bad."
"As for Hilton's military expertise, including his claim to have advised forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, those interviewed knew of no such feats. Instead, Hilton was described alternately by those who know him as an arts dealer, cook, restaurant owner, land developer, loan broker and car salesman — always with a moneymaking scheme in the works."

Wouldn't you know.
added - Exposed: American Police Force Is A Blackwater Front Group

added - Montana AG launches probe of jail deal