Post by geronimo on Sept 30, 2009 2:19:02 GMT -4
SO, WHATS UP IN MONTANA? CHECK IT OUT!
www.americanpolicegroup.com/index.html
Home / News / State and Regional News / Montana News
Montana lawmakers want info on secretive California company
StoryDiscussionMATTHEW BROWN Associated Press Writer | Posted: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 9:00 pm | (2) Comments
Font Size:Default font sizeLarger font sizeJob applicants overwhelm American Police Force Web site
The Web site for American Police Force, the California company working on a contract to fill Hardin's empty jail, is temporarily down.
Becky Shay, APF's public relations director, said the Web site, www.americanpolicegroup.com, crashed because it has received more job applications than the server can handle. APF has received at least 2,000 applications, many of which are for jobs at the 464-bed jail in Hardin.
"The surge came after the announcement for Hardin," she said. "Our Web site is getting 20,000 to 30,000 hits a day, and a lot of those are job applications."
Applications and information submitted before the site crashed are safe, Shay said, and have not been lost. The site could be back up later this afternoon, and the goal is to have it back up and running by the end of the night.
Those wishing to submit applications can resend their information later today, when the site is back up
Full StoryMontana legislators said Tuesday they want to know more about a secretive California company that wants to take over an empty jail in the southeastern corner of the state and build a military training center on adjacent property.
The company, American Police Force, has attracted widespread attention with its plans - but won't reveal its backers or where it would get prisoners for the jail, located in the rural city of Hardin.
With Hardin officials also saying little about the company, rumors have flourished. On a Web site run by right-wing radio show host Alex Jones, a posting claimed that employees of American Police Force had "occupied" the city and started patrolling its streets.
Montana Rep. Bob Ebinger said more rumors were likely until Hardin and the company provide more details.
"Always when things are secretive, you end up getting everybody - on both the right and the left - making suppositions about what's going on," said Ebinger, a Democrat from Livingston.
Ebinger and other members of the Legislature's Law and Justice Committee said they would ask Hardin officials to provide more information about the company.
In addition to taking over the 464-bed, $27 million jail, the company has said it will sink $17 million into a military training center and is seeking 5,000 acres or more for a live-fire training ground.
Company spokeswoman Becky Shay said there were no plans to reveal the project's financial backers.
"We're still sitting tight," said Shay, who took the job with American Police Force last week after abruptly leaving the Billings Gazette, where she had written extensively about the jail over the last several years.
Hardin built the jail two years ago as an economic development project but was never able to find any prisoners.
Its agreement with American Police Force - worth at least $2.6 million a year - has yet to be validated by U.S. Bank, the trustee on the construction bonds used to pay for the facility.
Those bonds went into default in May, 2008.
Posted in Montana on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 9:00 pm Updated: 9:01 pm. | Tags: American Police Force, Hardin Jail,
www.americanpolicegroup.com/index.html
Home / News / State and Regional News / Montana News
Montana lawmakers want info on secretive California company
StoryDiscussionMATTHEW BROWN Associated Press Writer | Posted: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 9:00 pm | (2) Comments
Font Size:Default font sizeLarger font sizeJob applicants overwhelm American Police Force Web site
The Web site for American Police Force, the California company working on a contract to fill Hardin's empty jail, is temporarily down.
Becky Shay, APF's public relations director, said the Web site, www.americanpolicegroup.com, crashed because it has received more job applications than the server can handle. APF has received at least 2,000 applications, many of which are for jobs at the 464-bed jail in Hardin.
"The surge came after the announcement for Hardin," she said. "Our Web site is getting 20,000 to 30,000 hits a day, and a lot of those are job applications."
Applications and information submitted before the site crashed are safe, Shay said, and have not been lost. The site could be back up later this afternoon, and the goal is to have it back up and running by the end of the night.
Those wishing to submit applications can resend their information later today, when the site is back up
Full StoryMontana legislators said Tuesday they want to know more about a secretive California company that wants to take over an empty jail in the southeastern corner of the state and build a military training center on adjacent property.
The company, American Police Force, has attracted widespread attention with its plans - but won't reveal its backers or where it would get prisoners for the jail, located in the rural city of Hardin.
With Hardin officials also saying little about the company, rumors have flourished. On a Web site run by right-wing radio show host Alex Jones, a posting claimed that employees of American Police Force had "occupied" the city and started patrolling its streets.
Montana Rep. Bob Ebinger said more rumors were likely until Hardin and the company provide more details.
"Always when things are secretive, you end up getting everybody - on both the right and the left - making suppositions about what's going on," said Ebinger, a Democrat from Livingston.
Ebinger and other members of the Legislature's Law and Justice Committee said they would ask Hardin officials to provide more information about the company.
In addition to taking over the 464-bed, $27 million jail, the company has said it will sink $17 million into a military training center and is seeking 5,000 acres or more for a live-fire training ground.
Company spokeswoman Becky Shay said there were no plans to reveal the project's financial backers.
"We're still sitting tight," said Shay, who took the job with American Police Force last week after abruptly leaving the Billings Gazette, where she had written extensively about the jail over the last several years.
Hardin built the jail two years ago as an economic development project but was never able to find any prisoners.
Its agreement with American Police Force - worth at least $2.6 million a year - has yet to be validated by U.S. Bank, the trustee on the construction bonds used to pay for the facility.
Those bonds went into default in May, 2008.
Posted in Montana on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 9:00 pm Updated: 9:01 pm. | Tags: American Police Force, Hardin Jail,