27227: Wharram (news) U.S. Arranges 'Pre-Deployment' Training for Haiti-Bound Private Police (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

> From Bruce Wharram

    the narcosphere
U.S. Arranges 'Pre-Deployment' Training for Haiti-Bound Private Police
By Stephen Peacock,
Posted on Fri Dec 13th, 2005 at 02:43:22 PM EST
The U.S. State Dept. is reaching out to independent contractors to train
other private contractors who will be deployed as ?civilian police? -- hired
guns for so-called peacekeeping missions taking place in Haiti and other
geopolitical hotspots. The senior adviser selected for the task ?must
oversee pre-deployment training currently being conducted? by Dyncorp
International, Civilian Police International and Pacific Architects and
Engineers/Homeland Security Corporation, according a recently released
procurement document.

The three companies currently work under the supervision of State?s Office
of Civilian Police and Rule of Law (CIVPOL office) and the Bureau for
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). The INL CIVPOL
contractors already have a presence in several ?post-conflict locations
throughout the world,? according to the document. However, Haiti appears to
be a priority, evidenced by a prominently displayed notice on the PAE/HSC
website currently announcing that the company is ?soliciting applications
specific to CIVPOL Officers fluent in French interested in a UN deployment
to Haiti.?

The senior advisor also will be responsible for ?establishing a ready roster
of rapidly deployable CIVPOL as well as building foreign capacity? to
provide such contractor services, it says. Programs are currently underway
?in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Haiti, Liberia, East Timor, Serbia &
Montenegro and Sudan,? but the ?number and location of programs are subject
to change.?

State facilitates the creation and deployment of these privately hired
?police officers and law enforcement and criminal justice experts? because
?the U.S. does not have a national police force from which to draw
personnel.? An additional justification, according to the State document, is
the CIVPOL office?s existing relationship with the above-mentioned private
contractors, an arrangement which provides the U.S. government with ability
to swiftly "recruit, select, train, equip, deploy and support the officers
and experts? needed for such missions

This latest endeavor requires the provision of ?10-day pre-deployment
training? courses for CIVPOL candidates, involving subjects such as physical
fitness, agility, firearms, and driving tests; psychological testing and
evaluation; ?history and culture of the deployment region?; defensive
tactics; human rights; trafficking in persons; and ?expatriate taxation
issues.?

The senior advisor will be based in Washington, D.C. Training sites are
located in Fredericksburg, Va. and in Leesburg, Va.