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The Office of Public Safety (OPS) was a U.S. government program within the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that provided training, assistance and equipment to the security forces of U.S. allies. The program commenced in November 1962 and was terminated by Congress in 1974. sch p. 19

Origins and Objectives
The OPS originated in the Public Safety program under the International Cooperation Administration (ICA) in 1954. In 1962, when the ICA was replaced by the USAID, the program was reorganised under the new title of 'Office of Public Safety', consolidating various disparate overseas police training and assistance projects across the globe. Its director, CIA operative and police reformer Byron Engle, served from 1962 until his retirement in 1973.

Police assistance projects overseas had been established by the Eisenhower administration, but military intervention and covert action by the CIA was the primary method of addressing communist groups and other subversives in poor and recently decolonised countries. In the 1950s and 60s, covert action was increasingly unsuccessful, culminating with the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion. Already in favour of international development programs as an alternative method of combating the spread of Communism, Kennedy was receptive to the suggestion by national security advisor Robert W. Komer that police assistance would succeed where covert action had failed. Security was a prerequisite for development; aid falling into the hands of insurgents would entirely defeat the purpose of providing it. Komer considered the police to be “more valuable than Special Forces in our global counter-insurgency efforts” and more cost-effective in that they did not require the expensive equipment and weaponry that military forces did. He described them as more successful as a preventative measure than any other program, providing "the first line of defense against demonstrations, riots and local insurrections. Only when the situation gets out of hand (as in South Vietnam) does the military have to be called in.”

International development programs could present the modernisation and expansion of security infrastructure as growing stability and preventing crime in these nations, without the bad optics of the CIA or the military. In a document drafted to launch the concept of the OPS, the USAID expressed concern over the optics of white American soldiers killing non-white dissidents: “In countering insurgency, the major effort must be indigenous. . . . In internal war it is always better for one national to kill another than for a foreigner—especially one with a dif­ferent skin coloration to do so". Siegel p. 58

Police were, as USAID director David Bell put it, "a most sensitive point of contact between the government and people, close to the focal points of unrest, and more acceptable than the army as keepers of order over long periods of time. The police are frequently better trained and equipped than the military to deal with minor forms of violence, conspiracy and subversion". Additionally, a strong security apparatus was needed to ensure that the recipients of US aid would provide the labour that was a vital component of international development projects; without people willing to build dams and sanitation systems, US provision of expertise and resources would be fruitless. Schrader

International Police Academy
The IPA was established in 1963 sch p. 19 and provided training to 7500 senor officers from seventy-seven countries in total siegel p. 28. Its first class included sixty-eight police officers from seventeen different nations. The officers were trained at the Georgetown Car Barn in Washington, D.C. Sch p. 92. Until the early 1970s, selected candidates could also receive training from CIA officers at the U.S. Border Patrol academy in Los Fresnos, Texas, including the making of bombs and incendiary devices.

The IPA trained senior police officers who would take the expertise and tactics home to train their subordinates. A major objective of the IPA was to cultivate these 'assets', instilling them with a degree of loyalty to the US which would theoretically make them a source of valuable information once they had risen within their home security institutions.

Role of the LAPD
The OPS conducted a form of international knowledge exchange by recruiting ordinary US police officers for 'short-term tours of duty' on overseas police assistance projects. The LAPD was a major source of such officers. Siegel p. 35

LAPD officers were sent to Venezuela and the Dominican Republic in 1962 Sch p. 514

Operations
The OPS operated in at least fifty-two countries in Asia, Africa and the Americas. One of its main functions was counterinsurgency, aiding the governments of at least fifty-two countries in the suppression of communist groups Schrader p. 30. In total, it provided over $500M of USAID and CIA funds to recipient countries in aid, training and equipment. In many instances, a CIA-backed coup would be followed by an injection of funding and OPS advisors to support the new leader during the inevitably unstable aftermath. This support involved riot control, the hunting down and elimination of subversive groups, training of paramilitary and ordinary police forces, and equipment provision.

A total of 1500 advisers were deployed overseas, reaching over a million police officers Siegel p. 41. The degree of involvement and influence that these advisors had varied a great deal between recipient countries.

In Washington, D.C., the Office of Public Safety had remained immune to public embarrassment as it went about two of its chief functions: allowing the CIA to plant men with the local police in sensitive places around the world; and after careful observation on their home territory, bringing to the United States prime candidates for enrollment as CIA employees.

The OPS directly oversaw the torture of thousands and the training of security officers in torture methods. Lauren "Jack" Goin set up forensics and fingerprinting labs in South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Dominican Republic and Brazil initially under the auspices of the 1290-d program and later under the OPS kuz p. 93

Alongside training, the OPS provided US-made equipment to overseas police forces, creating an aftermarket for upgrades and parts. Schrader p. 356

True to Komer's argument, police assistance proved to be far more cost-effective than military aid; excluding the immense South Vietnam project, the OPS's spending in 1968 was 5.8% of the military assistance budget for that year. Sch p. 352

Former OPS employees have stated that they were unaware of the presence of CIA operatives within their ranks. Schrader

Nicaragua
From 1971 until the OPS's termination, the Somoza regime received $81,000 worth of equipment including vehicles and radios from USAID to assist in rooting out "subversives", primarily the leftist anti-imperialist FSLN kuz p. 222

Brazil
In Brazil, the OPS trained civil and military police together to overcome divisions between them

Uruguay
The OPS operated in Uruguay from 1964, supplying the police with equipment, arms and training. Between 1969 and 1973, at least nineteen Uruguayan officers were trained at the IPA and in Los Fresnos, Texas to be taught the handling of explosives. On several occasions, the pupils were not police officers, but individuals affiliated with the Uruguayan right-wing.

The director of the Uruguayan police alleged that he had kidnapped homeless people from the streets for torture expert Dan Mitrione to use for teaching purposes, a claim corroborated by Cuban CIA operative Manuel Hevia Consculluela. Kuz p. 229, McCoy p. 72. Former CIA operative John Stockwell has written that their bodies would be left mutilated in the street to induce fear. Stockwell p. 75

Guatemala
The OPS program in Guatemala garnered a lot of attention and criticism in the US

Chile
The OPS helped Chile build Police Operations Control Center (POCC) facilities. Schrader p. 418

After Allende was elected in 1970, he dismantled the OPS program in Chile and dismissed IPA-trained officials. Pinochet reinstated the program after he assumed power in the 1973 military coup. kuz p. 230

Colombia
The OPS trained over 450 Colombian officers at the IPA and provided $7.8 million in aid

El Salvador
The OPS supplied almost $2 million to build a police academy and communications centre,

Bolivia
The OPS budget for Bolivia was $1.75 million in 1956, the biggest in Latin America at the time; this included POCC facilities kuz p. 227 sch p. 418

Venezuela
The OPS helped Venezuela build POCC facilities. Schrader p. 418

LAPD officers were sent to Venezuela in 1962 to train local police officers and assist them in repressing the Armed Forces of National Liberation (AFNL).

Peru
In 1962, following a military coup to overthrow elected leaders, OPS advisors 'trained rural strike forces in jungle warfare and provided water cannon trucks and telecommunications equipment to police’ Kuz p. 226 ‘Police aid spiked to $700,000 in 1965 and $1.1 million in 1966’ p. 226-7

OPS helped subjugate Indians

Costa Rica
The OPS's technical assistance budget for Costa Rica was $99,000 in 1965, and $327,000 the year after. Kuz p. 224

Mexico
The OPS provided 'vomiting gas, flamethrowers, helicopters, and airplanes, and built up the intelligence services' kuz p. 222

Panama
The OPS provided 'vomiting gas, flamethrowers, helicopters, and airplanes, and built up the intelligence services' kuz p. 222

Ethiopia
Ethiopia received $3.3 million in police assistance between 1953 and 1969

Somalia
The OPS helped Somalia build POCC facilities. Schrader p. 418

In 1967, the OPS supplied weaponry, communications equipment and three aircraft to reinforce border security against Ethiopian forces kuz p. 169

Ghana
After the 1966 CIA-backed coup to overthrow Ghana's first leader after achieving independence, Kwame Nkrumah, the OPS established a $400,000 program Kuzmarov p. 173; 'police were mobilized principally along political lines to suppress pro-Nkrumah elements and a growing labor movement' p. 174; sent weapons and surveillance equipment p. 174

Nigeria
'In Nigeria, where police were authorized to shoot robbers on sight, the OPS spent $3.4 million from 1970 to 1972 building a police staff college at Jos. Graduates carrief out surveillance on behalf of the reigning military oligarchy and reprisals against the Biafran independence movement.' Kuz p. 174

Ivory Coast
The OPS spent $389,000 to supply Houphouët-Boigny’s security forces with vehicles, weaponry, ammunition and generators Kuzmarov p. 173

Benin
'OPS provided $266,000 to help reinforce a series of military juntas' p. 174

Central African Republic
'In the Central Africa Republic, the OPS provided $241,000 to stabilize the authoritarian rule of David Dacko and his successor Jean-Bédel Bokassa, who declared himself emperor for life in 1966' p. 175

Democratic Republic of Congo
After collaborating with Belgium to assassinate the newly independent Congo's first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, the US enabled Mobutu Sese Seko to take power. p. 176-177

The OPS spent $5 million in Congo on building and staffing police training facilities, riot gear, communications equipment, and developed 'paramilitary mobile brigades' p. 178

Tanzania
The OPS provided over $640,000 in weaponry, communications devices, tear gas and other equipment, and set up a police training academy Kuz p. 184

Uganda
As in other former British colonies in Africa, the OPS continued work that its British counterparts had started prior to decolonisation, and partnered with them in providing equipment and training. Ugandan police officers and ten members of Amin's secret service were trained at the IPA from the late 60s to the mid 70s. The OPS also partnered with Mossad agents in training Idi Amin's paramilitary force Kuz p. 186.

South Vietnam
The OPS's most wide-ranging operation was based in South Vietnam. It took over from the Michigan State University Vietnam Advisory Group (MSUG) in 1962 Kuz p. 147

OPS introduced stop-and-frisk and identity cards, allowing increased surveillance and enabling police to demonstrate power on a more intimate level with individuals through the process of card checks sch p. 159

Cambodia
The OPS's primary objective in Cambodia was training paramilitary units to clamp down on the Maoist Khmer Rouge. In 1963, the OPS provided $807,000 to build a police academy and a laboratory for forensics and photography, and trained six senior officers at the IPA. kuz p. 138

Laos
The OPS budget for Laos was $900,000 in 1965 and $1.1 million the following year, providing a laboratory, surveillance equipment, small arms, and ammunition. In 1968, riot control equipment - tear gas and projectiles - were provided. Eleven officers were trained at the IPA. kuz p. 137

Thailand
In 1973, the OPS provided Thailand's security forces with thousands of fragmentation grenades to strengthen its borders against potential insurgency in regions where relations with Laos and Malaysia were unstable. sch p. 154

Myanmar
The OPS provided General Ne Win with funding to subdue the Burma Communist Party

Iran
The OPS helped Iran build POCC facilities. Schrader p. 418

Jordan
In the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, the OPS provided Jordan with $1.1 million to aid in fighting Palestinian guerrilla fighters and suppressing riots p. 205

Controversy and Dissolution
In 1966, US senator J. William Fulbright began to criticize the OPS's methods. The bomb-making course at Los Fresnos was already a source of much controversy, and in 1970, Life magazine published a photo essay revealing the horrific conditions that prisoners of Con Son Island were kept in sch p. 269. The same year, the kidnapping and assassination of torture expert Dan Mitrione by Tupamaro guerrillas in Uruguay attracted much attention, fuelling existing accusations over the OPS's use of torture siegel p. 30 Growing opposition to OPS activities resulted in a protest outside the IPA in November 1970 sch p. 269

Overseas police assistance had become a serious issue simultaneously for antiwar and anti-imperialist activists, Black radicals and the New Left. This vocal coalition, in addition to information from a Brazilian opposition members about the US's role in human rights abuses in their country, spurred South Dakota Democratic senator James G. Abourezk to expose the OPS's illicit activities and call for an end to overseas police aid. Kuz p. 234, Sch p. 601 John A. Hannah, head of the USAID and former president of Michigan State University, unsuccessfully tried to support the OPS by sending a letter to deputy Otto Passman.

In 1974, Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA); Statute Section 660 banned the provision by the U.S. of training or assistance to foreign police. However, exceptions were made if the recipient country was providing the funding as opposed to the US government, and for the policing of narcotics p. 30 Siegel. This meant that many OPS missions were transferred to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The Department of Defense continued to transfer equipment to security forces in foreign countries. The International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) was set up in 1986 as an 'officially recognized' police assistance body, employing many OPS employees. Many ex-OPS 'technicians' and advisors moved into domestic law enforcement roles, bringing with them their Cold War counterinsurgency outlook and tactics (Alex Vitale). Others established or joined existing companies to do exactly what OPS had been, but for lucrative private contracts; for example, two advisors joined Vinnell Arabia which received an $80 million contract from Saudi Arabia to continue US training of its paramilitary National Guard. Venezuela and Nicaraguan governments also sought to continue training programs sch p. 583. Byron Engle became a consultant after his retirement in 1973, advising the Rhodesian government; Lauren "Jack" Goin, who succeeded him as director for the last year of the program, formed his own company, Public Safety Services, Inc. Schrader p. 551 Langguth p. 279

Legacy
The OPS has been widely condemned for its imperialistic conduct, human rights abuses and support of brutal regimes. According to historian Jeremy Kuzmarov, in the vast majority of cases, OPS aided in the formation of a 'repressive police state'. p. 224

It also impacted policing at home, partly due to the police knowledge exchange program. Many of the tactics found to be successful in putting down protests and rebellions abroad were used in the streets of US cities, notably in the Watts riots of 1965. LAPD Chief Parker compared the rots to fighting the Viet Cong, and decreed a "paramilitary" response to the disorder. Governor Pat Brown declared that law enforcement was confronting "guerrillas fighting with gangsters". Militarisation of regular police forces is one aspect of this counterinsurgency style of policing.

In many cases, the repression and brutality of US programs and the regimes the OPS helped to support fuelled left-wing revolution, as in Venezuela Kuz p. 210