Blackwater rumored to be coming to Idaho

If controversial security contractor Blackwater USA wants to build a training facility in North Idaho, it likely will find a way, despite opposition from local law enforcement officials to any kind of partnership with the private company.

That’s according to citizens and at least one legislator in San Diego, who say the company – rumored to be in negotiations for land between Coeur d’Alene and Worley for a $20 million training facility – was able to secure permits in California for a similar facility with very little community oversight.

“They were using these phony names to evade scrutiny by activist groups like ours watching their every move,” said Raymond Lutz, a San Diego resident working to oust Blackwater from California.

Blackwater officials denied using deceit to gain permits for the use of a warehouse in Otay Mesa, a small town not far from the Mexican border. The officials also deny that the company is negotiating for land in North Idaho, though they have talked about a training partnership with police officials in Idaho.

“We haven’t found a site for this nor have we even looked for one,” said Anne Tyrell, Blackwater spokeswoman. San Diego permits were secured by Raven Development Group, a recognized real estate arm of the Moyock, N.C.-based company, she said.

In addition to its San Diego training facility, Blackwater has training operations in Moyock and Mt. Carroll, Ill., according to its Web site. In recent years, the company also acquired a Coeur d’Alene company, the Backup Training Corp., and operates it as a “digital learning center.”

Blackwater is being investigated by the FBI and a federal grand jury for human rights violations in the Middle East. On Thursday, federal agents raided its North Carolina headquarters in an investigation of a deal that allowed a sheriff’s office there to store high-powered assault rifles at the company’s headquarters. Blackwater denies any wrongdoing.

While Kootenai County planners said they haven’t seen any permit requests from Blackwater or any known affiliates for a training center, law enforcement officials were surprised earlier this month to learn that the director of Idaho’s law enforcement academy had signed a letter of intent to work with Blackwater. The partnership would call for police officer training at a Blackwater facility that Jeff Black, executive director of the Idaho Peace Office Standards and Training (POST) council, said was planned for North Idaho. Law enforcement officials in North Idaho had pitched a separate proposal to POST for police training at North Idaho College.

Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson said Blackwater has a reputation of attaching itself to local law enforcement in an effort “to fast-track” permits for facilities by making it look like such a partnership would benefit public safety.

But Watson said such a partnership could damage the image of his deputies because of Blackwater’s reputation elsewhere in the world, including in Iraq where Blackwater employees are accused of shooting civilians.

“It doesn’t matter whether they did those things or not, it taints us,” Watson said.

In San Diego, a fight is under way by a coalition of environmentalists and property owners in an attempt to retract permits issued to Blackwater to convert a warehouse into a firearms training facility.

Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, said an “incredible coalition of local people” was able to stop a Blackwater facility from being built in Portreo, Calif., another small town about 10 miles from the Mexican border. “They felt (Blackwater) was violating their lifestyle and peaceful community, who understand that mercenary soldiers are not what a democracy ought to be encouraging,” Filner said Friday.

He helped write proposed legislation that would make it illegal for “mercenary” military training to be done anywhere but on a military base.

Lutz, the San Diego activist, said his group was able to lead the successful recall of the board of an entire planning commission that approved the initial permits for the site in Portreo. If Blackwater moves forward in North Idaho, the California coalition hopes to make contact with groups opposing the facility, he said.

Lutz and others testified before the San Diego City Council this week, attempting to have the Otay Mesa permits quashed. A federal judge ordered San Diego this month to allow final building permits already approved for the site, claiming the city only suspended them because they feared political backlash.

“They are misusing the system here and giving the citizens here the same foul taste in their mouth the people in Iraq have had for the last few years,” Lutz said.

Staff writer Erica Curless and the Associated Press contributed to this report.