Wednesday 14 November 2012

CTTA’s Police Training Programs Target Nation Building in Libya

Montreal, Quebec–(November 14, 2012) – The Canadian Tactical Training Academy (CTTA) (Pink Sheets: CTTG)

The Canadian Tactical Training Academy  (“the Company”) announced today that an agreement has been reached with CANGATEWAY to act as its master agent and represent the Company in Libya.
After visiting CTTA’s Montreal offices and meeting with management, Mr. Khaled Itaychany, Vice President of CANGATEWAY stated that “the specialized and proven techniques used by CTTA in training law enforcement personnel would be in demand in Libya as the country trains its new police force”.

Intelligent Crowd Control Methodology (Trade Mark Pending) is an important aspect of CTTA’s training curriculum. This approach adheres to Canadian guidelines respecting human rights.
Mr. Itaychany, a resident of Montreal, travels frequently to his native Libya. He will represent CTTA in its efforts to achieve specific goals in the area which includes law enforcement training and selling equipment such as bullet-proof vests and riot gear to the police force.

Mr. Itaychany, who is well known in government circles will also open doors in Libya and intends to schedule meetings with the various ministries responsible for law enforcement.

Mr. Angelo Marino, Vice President of CTTA, commented, “We are pleased to have entered into a working relationship with CANGATEWAY and Mr. Itaychany. We have much to offer with respect to the planned training programs in Libya.

CTTA is already in Qatar, Kuwait, and other countries to discuss Security Training, Logistics, and Consulting Services opportunities with various government agencies.  The opportunity to provide professional training services in Libya is enormous “

About The Canadian Tactical Training Academy
The Canadian Tactical Training Academy (CTTA) is an organization devoted to the training of law enforcement, security, investigation, protection officers and all those who dedicate themselves to maintaining peace.

The Academy also provides tailored security and safety-oriented civilian training at both the individual and corporate levels.

CTTA offers recognized tactical training programs of the highest level, as well as specialized programs for the fields of Intelligence and Investigation, Executive Protection and both Public and Private Security and Safety.

CTTA`s Mission is to facilitate professional training and operational objectives by offering the tools and guidance required to enhance careers and ensure survival!

CTTA offers specialized programs such as: Executive Protection, Investigation and Surveillance, Rapid Integrated Survival Kombat (RISK) System, Tactical Firearms, Handcuffing, Airport and Airline Security (IATA and ICAO standards), Ports Facilities and Maritime Security (ISPS Code), Basic SWAT Techniques, Corporate Safety Awareness, and much more.

CTTA`s civilian training programs are recognized by numerous notable corporations, and its instructors are proud members of several prestigious law enforcement and security associations.

About CANGATEWAY
The Canadian Gateway for Education (CANGATEWAY) is a private Canadian training and development consortium established as a Canadian consultant for the Libyan private sector and the Libyan Government with regards to higher education reform and workforce training.

CANGATEWAY works with its partners to outline and identify the needs of Libyan institutions and how to engage Canadians institutions in the nation’s rebuilding efforts.

CANGATEWAY gives greater focus on workforce training in the following key areas: The training of peace and law enforcement officers, business management, hospitality and tourism, English language and technical training.

Risk factors and cautionary statement about forward-looking information
This press release includes forward-looking statements about our plans and future performance, including those under Outlook for 2011. These statements use such words as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “believe,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “contemplate,” “target,” “continue,” “intend,” “estimate,” “project,” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. They reflect our expectations and speak only as of the date of this press release. We do not undertake to update them. Our expectations (or the underlying assumptions) may change or not be realized, and you should not rely unduly on forward-looking statements.

Contacts:
Jocelyn Moisan, Angelo Marino and John Farinaccio
Canadian Tactical Training Academy
7000 Cote de Liesse, Suite 8
Montreal, Quebec, H4T 1E7, Canada
Phone: 514-373-8411

http://www.ctta-global.com


Tuesday 19 June 2012

To Lie or Not to Lie: The Use of Deception During An Interrogation

If the agents involved in the recent Colombia incident are interrogated, should the investigators tell them they have evidence that they don't really have? It depends on a number of considerations.

Earlier this year a case was reported in which a detective doctored a crime lab report to use as a prop during an interrogation. While the suspect did not confess, the detective's tactics spurred legal questions regarding the use of deception during an interrogation. The legal twist was that even though the report used as an interrogation prop was manufactured by the investigator, it was based on factual verbal information provided by the crime lab. In other words, the manufactured evidence contained truthful information that incriminated the suspect but the report was not a bona fide report from the crime lab. 1

Legal Considerations

The legal test for deceptive practices during an interrogation has remain unchanged for more than 40 years. The use of deception during an interrogation must be considered within the totality of circumstances when deciding the admissibility of a confession.2 Deception that shocks the conscience of the court or community will generally result in a suppressed confession. An example of deception that "shocks the conscience" is lying to the suspect about the possible consequences he faces, e.g., telling a homicide suspect that the legislature just dropped first degree murder to a misdemeanor. Similarly, an investigator who elicits a confession after falsely telling the suspect that he is his court appointed public defender has "shocked the conscience".

A second legal guideline regulating deceptive practices, stemming from a 1989 case, makes a distinction between manufacturing evidence against the suspect (which is not permissible) and false verbal assertions (which generally are permissible). 3 In that case the investigator manufactured a fictitious crime lab report indicating that the suspect's DNA was found during an autopsy of the victim. After reading the "crime lab report" the suspect confessed. The suspect's confession was later suppressed at trial. If the investigator had falsely told the suspect that his DNA was found during the victim's autopsy this would have been permissible - but the investigator went too far by manufacturing the lab report. Other than these exceptions, there are many decisions upholding the use of verbal deception during an interrogation.

There is no per se legal restriction against the use of "props" during an interrogation. However, the prop must truly be a mere visual aid such as a blank DVD where the suspect is falsely told that it is the surveillance video showing the suspect removing property from a building. To determine whether a prop crosses the line of being improper, ask the following question: "Could an analysis of the purported evidence incriminate the suspect?" If the answer is "yes" the prop should not be used. In the DVD example, even if the DVD was labeled "Surveillance Video, May 12, 2012" anyone who played the DVD would realize that there was absolutely nothing on it that would incriminate the suspect.

Procedural Considerations

Most investigators have experienced some success with deceptive practices during an interrogation. For example, the investigator may produce a file containing a number of blank pages. As the investigator thumbs through the pages in the file he states, "This is a report from an eye-witness who saw you outside the building that night; this is a report indicating your fingerprints were found inside the building; this report shows that you made a large cash purchase two days after you went into that apartment building." A guilty person who believes that the investigator, in fact, has all of this incriminating evidence is more likely to tell the truth.

On the other hand, consider the investigator who falsely tells a suspect, "We found your fingerprint inside that house." Unbeknownst to the investigator, the suspect wore gloves during the burglary that he committed. Obviously, under this circumstance the deceptive tactic completely backfires. The investigator will lose credibility, the suspect will become more confident in his ability to lie and the interrogation will deteriorate very quickly.

Suffice it to say, lying to a suspect about having incriminating evidence is a risky interrogation tactic. To reduce this risk the investigator who anticipates the possibility of mentioning fictitious evidence during the interrogation may first test the fictitious evidence during the interview by asking a bait question.

Consider the investigator who is contemplating making a false statement during the interrogation concerning an eye-witness who saw the suspect at the scene of the crime. During the interview the investigator may ask the following bait question, "Is there any reason a witness, who was walking their dog down Washington street that night, would tell us that they saw you leave the apartment complex around 7:00?"

If the suspect offers an emphatic denial to this bait question it would be an indication to the investigator that he should not mention a fictitious eye-witness during the interrogation. On the other hand, if the suspect offered a hesitant or qualified response to this bait question, the investigator should have confidence in mentioning an eye-witness during the interrogation. The following are other procedural considerations relating to deceptive statements during an interrogation:

  1. Consider deception as a last resort effort to overcome stubborn, weak denials typically offered by a guilty suspect.
  2. Do not lie to a suspect who claims not to remember his actions at the time of the crime. There are reported cases of internalized false confessions where innocent suspects claim that they were convinced by the investigator that they must have committed the crime, even though the suspect had no initial recollection of committing the crime. Obviously, the use of deception by the investigator could increase the likelihood of this occurrence.
  3. Do not use false evidence to threaten inevitable consequences. A number of previous web tips have addressed the dangers of convincing an innocent suspect that he or she will suffer negative consequences regardless of whether the suspect acknowledges guilt. When this tactic is reinforced with false claims that the investigator has evidence implicating the suspect in the crime, a false confession is a real possibility.
Miscellaneous Considerations

Some private companies have established internal policies that prohibit corporate investigators from making false statements during an interview or interrogation of an employee. The basis for this policy is generally based on corporate ethical considerations as opposed to legal requirements. Especially when a corporate investigation centers around administrative acts of wrong-doing, the use of deceptive practices may fall outside of the realm of acceptable standards of practice and open the employer to possible civil liability.

Police officers who work in small communities often arrest and re-arrest the same suspects, or relatives of that suspect on a regular basis. In a tight-knit community the officer's reputation will often dictate his success in developing informants and eliciting confessions from suspects. If the officer establishes a reputation of being a straight shooter and honest he is likely to be successful. On the other hand, if the officer has a reputation of lying to suspects and not being trustworthy, his ability to solve cases through gathering street information or by interrogating suspects is greatly hindered. Under this circumstance, the investigator will be more successful by establishing a reputation of being truthful.

The same advise applies to the corporate investigator who will quickly establish a reputation of either being credible or someone not to trust. It must be remembered that both innocent and guilty suspects will not cooperate with an investigator they do not trust; the one case that might be solved by making deceptive statements during an interrogation could result in the failure to resolve many future cases.

Finally, investigators who electronically record interrogations should consider their ability to explain their use of deception practices to a jury. The defense, of course, will argue that the recorded deception somehow renders the defendant's confession as untrustworthy. A competent prosecutor should be able to address this issue by educating the jury with respect to the law and emphasizing that the confession is corroborated with information only the guilty person could have provided.

Conclusion

Deceptive practices are prevalent within society and largely considered an acceptable part of doing business or preserving social relationships. When a store asks a customer to register for a free birthday gift they don't want to send the customer a gift - they want to find out how old the customer is so they can market products appropriate to someone that age. We have all been served a meal that was less than appetizing and yet, deceptively, we would finish our portion, compliment the chef and leave a generous tip. These examples involve everyday practices of law abiding citizens. What about when dealing with criminal suspects? Certainly courts and society recognize that investigators often need to resort to deceptive practices in an effort to learn the truth from a criminal suspect. Indeed, the law extends great latitude within the area of making false statements to a criminal suspect.

However, as addressed in this article, just because lying to a suspect is accepted by the courts and will generally not cause an innocent person to confess, there are other considerations that may cause an investigator to avoid making false statements to a suspect. These involve circumstances where the investigator's deceptive conduct may negatively affect the investigator's (or employer's) ability to solve the crimes, as well as affect their reputation.

1 Reported in "Austin Police Use of Doctored DNA Report in Interrogation Raises Legal Questions," Statesman.com, Jan. 30, 2012
2Frazier v. Cupp 394 U.S. 731 (1969)
3 Cayward v. Fl 552 So 2nd 971 (1989)


Credit and Permission Statement: This Investigator Tip was developed by John E. Reid and Associates Inc. Permission is hereby granted to those who wish to share or copy the article. For additional 'tips' visit www.reid.com; select 'Educational Information' and 'Investigator Tip'. Inquiries regarding Investigator Tips should be directed to Janet Finnerty johnreid@htc.net. For more information regarding Reid seminars and training products, contact John E. Reid and Associates, Inc. at 800-255-5747 or www.reid.com.

Wednesday 14 March 2012

CTTA Vice-President, John Farinaccio, Earns CFE Credential

AUSTIN, Texas, March 13, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Canadian Tactical Training Academy (CTTA) (Pink Sheets:CTTG) is pleased to announce that its Vice-President, John Farinaccio, has earned his CFE credentials.

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), the world's largest anti-fraud organization and leading provider of anti-fraud training and education, is pleased to award John Farinaccio, of Montreal, Quebec, the globally preferred Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) credential. In order to become a CFE, Farinaccio has met a stringent set of criteria and passed a rigorous exam administered by the ACFE.

Farinaccio has successfully met the ACFE's character, experience and education requirements for the CFE credential, and has demonstrated knowledge in four areas critical to the fight against fraud: Fraudulent Financial Transactions, Fraud Prevention and Deterrence, Legal Elements of Fraud and Fraud Investigation. 

Farinaccio joins the ranks of business and government professionals worldwide who have also earned the CFE certification. Farinaccio is currently the President of Specialized Security & Investigation Services (SSIS) and Vice-President of The Canadian Tactical Training Academy (CTTA) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

CFEs have the ability to: examine data and records to detect and trace fraudulent transactions; interview suspects to obtain information and confessions; write investigation reports; advise clients as to their findings; testify at trial; understand the law as it relates to fraud and fraud investigations; and identify the underlying factors that motivate individuals to commit fraud. CFEs on six continents have investigated more than 1 million suspected cases of civil and criminal fraud. 

About the ACFE
The ACFE is the world's largest anti-fraud organization and premier provider of anti-fraud training and education. Together with more than 60,000 members, the ACFE is reducing business fraud world-wide and inspiring public confidence in the integrity and objectivity within the profession. Identified as "the premier financial sleuthing organization" by The Wall Street Journal, the ACFE has captured national and international media attention. For more information about the ACFE visit ACFE.com.

Globally preferred by employers, the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) credential denotes proven expertise in fraud prevention, detection, deterrence and investigation. Read more about the CFE credential on the ACFE's website, ACFE.com

About The Canadian Tactical Training Academy
The Canadian Tactical Training Academy (CTTA) is an organization devoted to the training of law enforcement, security, investigation, protection officers and all those who dedicate themselves to maintaining peace.

CTTA offers applied security devices for surveillance and counter-surveillance activities as well as consulting services related to security risk assessments.

Friday 9 March 2012

Crowd control a tricky balancing act: expert


 
 











 
Photograph by: (John Kenney/THE GAZETTE)

When you go up to a crowd with a shield, things can get violent quick.
Jocelyn Moisan- The Canadian Tactical Training Academy
 
MONTREAL – When police bring out the tear gas and flashbang grenades in a demonstration, it’s usually to avoid an even uglier situation.

So says a veteran instructor of crowd control tactics who has trained police forces in more than 20 countries.

“The idea is to break the problem right away and disperse the crowd,” said Jocelyn Moisan, president of the Canadian Tactical Training Academy, based right here in Montreal.

“When you go up to a crowd with a shield, things can get violent quick. You want to avoid that. So it’s better to use flashbangs and stop the process than make a lot of arrests. It avoids the escalation of violence.”

When Montreal riot police threw a flashbang at student protesters on Wednesday, which seriously injured the eye of student Francis Grenier, it was meant to destabilize the crowd blocking the entrance to the Loto-Québec building on Sherbrooke St., police brass said.

“It was a defensive manoeuvre that let us move on to our second action, which was to remove the barricade and advance,” chief inspector Alain Bourdage said.

What triggers a riot squad to deploy forceful tactics is a science in principle but not so much in practice, police trainers say. Every police force has its own guidelines for responding to incidents, but crowd control, at least in Canada, usually follows a logic: break it up before it snowballs into something more violent.

“When (protesters) do stupid stuff it can get ugly very fast,” Moisan said, like pushing an officer or throwing a heavy object.

“It really depends on the prevailing circumstances that can change in a heartbeat,” wrote Steve Watt, president of CMLS Global, a police training firm in Vancouver. “It may be easy to armchair-quarterback these incidents, but not so easy when you are in the middle of one and making decisions on the spot.”

Montreal cops follow a force continuum established by the provincial police school in Nicolet. If a group doesn’t respond to verbal warnings and show “active resistance” by pushing or throwing objects at regular officers, the riot squad is deployed, Bourdage said.

Their first strategy is to order an evacuation. The flashbang was thrown because protesters kept throwing things, he added.

Student leaders, however, were at a loss. When police moved in to disperse the students, they claim they were doing nothing wrong.

“This police intervention happened particularly fast and was particularly aggressive. The demonstration was calm, there was no material damage and no one had gotten hurt,” Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, a spokesperson for student group Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante said.
In the dozens of marches he took part in, things got ugly when the riot squad approached the demonstrators.

“In student protests, when the police keep a certain distance and respect the demonstrators, things go well. But when they get close, it’s when things go bad. It’s what happened yesterday,” he said.

Francis Dupuis-Déri, a professor of political science at UQAM, believes police don’t respond to specific actions, but to the perceived status of demonstrators. In his study of police clashes in Quebec, he noticed that riot cops are harsher with students and extreme leftists than with unionized workers.

“Police see them as second-class citizens. They’re considered troublemakers, and the repression happens much faster,” Dupuis-Déri said.

Moisan said this doesn’t surprise him. Security workers, he said, adapt their strategy to the perceived danger of the crowd.

“They’re supposed to be neutral in every case, but are they always? It’s hard to tell. If they know a group has a bad reputation, they’ll be stricter. They know some people have the tendency to go further in their actions. So they’ll jump in faster,” he said.

About the Canadian Tactical Training Academy
The Canadian Tactical training Academy (CTTA) is an organization devoted to worldwide training of peace and law enforcement officers, as well as all other professionals involved in the fields of security, investigation, protection and the maintenance of order. The Academy also provides tailored security and safety oriented civilian training at both the individual and corporate levels.

Training courses can be customized according to specific needs.

Follow us on TWITTER @ CTTAGLOBAL
Our FACEBOOK page is: www.facebook.com/TacticalAcademy

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Nortel hit by suspected Chinese cyberattacks for a decade

Hackers based in China enjoyed widespread access to Nortel's computer network for nearly a decade, according to a report.

The hackers – who appeared to be based in China – had unfettered access to the former telecommunications giant as far back as 2000, according to Brian Shields, a former Nortel employee who launched an internal investigation of the attacks, the Wall Street Journal reports.

They “had access to everything”, Shields told the Journal. “They had plenty of time. All they had to do was figure out what they wanted.”

Over the years, the hackers downloaded business plans, research and development reports, employee emails and other documents.

According to the internal report, Nortel “did nothing from a security standpoint” about the attacks.
Corporate espionage is a growing problem for North American companies, with the majority of attacks coming from China.

China rejects cyberspying allegations
Last November, a group of U.S. analysts said there were as many as 12 different Chinese groups participating in cyberattacks on U.S. companies and government agencies.

China has rejected allegations of cyberspying, saying it is also a target of attacks.

The long-term attack on Nortel isn’t the only time a Canadian company has been targeted by hackers.
During BHP Billiton’s hostile takeover bid for Saskatchewan’s PotashCorp, hackers traced to China targeted Bay Street law firms and other companies to get insider information on the $38-billion corporate takeover.

Those same hackers also targeted Canadian government computers in fall 2010, targeting the Finance Department, the Treasury Board, and Defence Research and Development Canada, a civilian agency of the Department of National Defence.

Nortel attacks went unreported
Nortel, currently selling off assets as part of a 2009 bankruptcy filing, failed to disclose the attacks to potential buyers of its patents and business units, according to the Journal.

During the investigation, the telecom giant made no effort to determine if any of its products were compromised. Nortel, as a publicly traded company, would have been required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose any “material” risks to investors.

According to Shields, Nortel discovered the hacking in 2004, and the company’s silence put acquiring companies at risk. Three former Nortel executives are currently on trial for allegedly tampering with quarterly results in order to trigger millions of dollars in bonus payments.

With files from The Associated Press

About the Canadian Tactical Training Academy
The Canadian Tactical Training Academy (CTTA) is an organization devoted to the training of law enforcement, security, investigation, protection officers, and all those who dedicate themselves to maintaining peace.
CTTA offers applied security devices for surveillance and counter-surveillance activities as well as consulting services related to security risk assessments.
The Canadian Tactical training Academy (CTTA) is an organization devoted to worldwide training of peace and law enforcement officers, as well as all other professionals involved in the fields of security, investigation, protection and the maintenance of order.The Academy also provides tailored security and safety oriented civilian training at both the individual and corporate levels.
 Training courses can be customized according to specific needs.
 Follow us on TWITTER @ CTTAGLOBAL
 Our FACEBOOK page is “The Canadian Tactical Training Academy”

Tuesday 31 January 2012

Expanding Business Demands in the Security Industry

MEXICO CITY — With the Iraq war over and the American presence waning in Afghanistan, U.S. security contractors are looking for new prospects in Mexico, where spreading criminal violence has created a growing demand for battle-ready professionals.


After years of lucrative work in the Middle East and Central Asia, where their presence has been occasionally marred by incidents of excessive force and misconduct, contractors and private security firms of varying sizes and specialties are being drawn into a battle closer to home. But Mexico’s restrictive gun laws mean that foreign contractors must enter the bloody drug war unarmed as they take jobs ranging from consulting and technical training for the Mexican military to guarding business executives from kidnapping gangs and extortionists.

Nov. 16, 2011: An estimated 17 tons of marijuana were seized when authorities discovered a major cross-border drug tunnel between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico.
The companies are beckoned by swelling pots of public and private contracting gold. In November, the Pentagon’s counter-narco-terrorism program office solicited bids on more than $3 billion in contracts worldwide, with an unspecified amount destined for operations in Mexico. The State Department has pledged nearly $2 billion in drug war aid to Mexico since 2008, much of it available to U.S. companies that can provide equipment or services to the embattled Mexican state.

Security spending by private companies in Mexico and the Mexican government has also surged. Since President Felipe Calderon deployed Mexico’s military against the country’s drug kingpins in December 2006, the number of armed private security firms in the country has doubled, Mexican federal police statistics show. But while there are 1,400 licensed firms in good standing, analysts say there may be another 10,000 operating without proper authorization.

Still, despite Mexico’s potential for highly remunerative work, experts caution that it will never equal the bonanza that U.S. companies found in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For one, the money available in Mexico doesn’t measure up to the cash that flowed through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the U.S. government spent more than $200 billion on private contractors over the past decade.

About the Canadian Tactical Training Academy
The Canadian Tactical Training Academy (CTTA) is an organization devoted to the training of law enforcement, security, investigation, protection officers, and all those who dedicate themselves to maintaining peace.

CTTA offers applied security devices for surveillance and counter-surveillance activities as well as consulting services related to security risk assessments.
The Canadian Tactical training Academy (CTTA) is an organization devoted to worldwide training of peace and law enforcement officers, as well as all other professionals involved in the fields of security, investigation, protection and the maintenance of order.

The Academy also provides tailored security and safety oriented civilian training at both the individual and corporate levels.
 Training courses can be customized according to specific needs.
 Follow us on TWITTER @ CTTAGLOBAL
 Our FACEBOOK page is "The Canadian Tactical Training Academy"

Thursday 26 January 2012

Navy SEAL raid shows US leaner way ahead

Kimberly Dozier and Robert Burns

January 27, 2012 - 4:49AM - AP
The Navy SEAL operation that freed two hostages in Somalia is representative of the Obama administration's pledge to build a smaller, more agile military force that can carry out surgical counterterrorist strikes to cripple an enemy.

That is a strategy much preferred to the land invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan that have cost so much American blood and treasure over the past decade. The contrast to a full-bore invasion is stark: A small, daring team storms a pirate encampment on a near-moonless night, kills nine kidnappers and whisks the hostages to safety.
Special operations forces, trained for such clandestine missions, have become a more prominent tool in the military's kit since the September 11, 2001, attacks that led to the ongoing war in Afghanistan. The administration is expected to announce on Thursday that it will invest even more heavily in that capability in coming years.

The SEAL Team 6 raid in Somalia, which followed the operation in May last year that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has political dimensions in an election year.
It gave an added punch to the five-state tour President Barack Obama began the day after he delivered his State of the Union speech. Obama did not mention the raid that was unfolding during his Tuesday night address, but he dropped a hint upon arriving in the House chamber by telling Defense Secretary Leon Panetta: "Good job tonight."
The SEAL mission also helps soften the blow of defence cuts the White House is seeking in spite of a chorus of criticism by hawkish lawmakers.
Not to be discounted is the feel-good moment such missions give the American public, a counterbalance to the continued casualties in Afghanistan.
Obama sent a letter to congressional leaders on Thursday outlining the reasons for the raid and declaring that his order to use force to rescue the hostages was in line with his constitutional powers as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He wrote that the kidnappers were "linked to" Somali pirates and financiers.
After planning and rehearsal, the Somalia rescue was carried out by SEAL Team 6, officially known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU). It was not clear whether any team members participated in both the raid in Somalia and the bin Laden mission in Pakistan.
The SEALs parachuted from US Air Force special operations aircraft before moving on foot, apparently undetected, to the outdoor encampment, two officials said. They found American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Poul Hagen Thisted, a 60-year-old Dane, who had been kidnapped in Somalia in late 2011.

The SEALs encountered little resistance from the kidnappers during the operation, which lasted about an hour to an hour and a half, two US officials said. Only one of the attackers fired back and was quickly subdued, one official said. The rest were believed killed, although officials did not rule out the possibility of an escape, as aerial surveillance of the scene was hampered on the cloudy, dark night.
Army special operations MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters then swooped into the subdued encampment near the town of Adado to carry away the SEALs and hostages.
The captors were heavily armed and had explosives nearby when the rescuers arrived on the scene, Pentagon press secretary George Little said, but he was not more specific. Little declined to say whether there was an exchange of gunfire and would not provide further details about the rescue beyond saying that all of the captors were killed by the Americans.
A US defence official said on Thursday Buchanan and Thisted had been flown to Naval Air Station Sigonella, on the Italian island of Sicily, for medical screenings and other evaluations before heading home.
Buchanan's family is meeting her at NAS Sigonella, which is the hub of US Navy air operations in the Mediterranean and hosts an Italian air force base.

Thursday 19 January 2012

Man Dies After Being Hit by Stun Gun

January 16, 2012 - Authorities in San Bernardino County were investigating the death of a 43-year-old man who died in police custody shortly after a stun gun was used on him during his arrest.
Officers with the Colton Police Department responded to the scene of a “disturbance” report in the 1100 block of South Mohave Dr. in Colton around 5 p.m. Saturday.
Hutalio Serrano, of Colton, allegedly refused to follow an officer’s commands and “actively resisted” the officer, according to a statement from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, which is investigating the death.
An officer then deployed “an electronic control device” on the man, but the measure was ineffective. Three officers managed to handcuff Serrano, but the 260-pound man continued to resist, authorities said.
Shortly after being taken into custody, Serrano suffered a medical emergency and was taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:23 p.m.
Authorities said an autopsy will be performed later this week to determine a cause of death.

CTTA OFFERS COURSES IN LESS-THAN-LETHAL CONTROL TECHNIQUUES
Among the many courses which CTTA provides worldwide, is the Rapid Integrated Survival Kombat System. This three level course is scheduled monthly at CTTA’s Montreal training facility but it is delivered to larger training groups in the United States on a regular basis.
Hundreds of  law enforcement professionals have been trained in the R.I.S.K. Defensive Tactics System.
Each level of the R.I.S.K. Defensive Tactics course is 16 hours and there are now seven instructors in the USA who have been certified by CTTA Master Instructors. Upon the successful completion of the course CTTA will issue a certificate to each participant.
The R.I.S.K. System is a highly effective combat system specifically developed for law enforcement and security professionals. Based on human anatomy and biomechanics, its effectiveness is due to the simplicity of both instinctive as well as learned techniques.
The objective of the R.I.S.K. Defensive Tactics System is to train the participant in the various aspects of physical confrontation so that he can better defend himself in dealing with different types of aggressors, who may be armed or unarmed, and restrain an uncooperative individual while performing an arrest.
This system prides itself in the effective use of recognized “Use of Force Continuums” in order to avoid unnecessary liability issues for both the officer and the department alike.


Some of the skills which participants will acquire are the following:
• Defense against strikes
• Efficient striking techniques
• Restraint techniques
• Ground control and handcuffing
• Ground defense
• Defense against edged weapons
• Handgun and long gun disarming
• Intervention in confined areas
Training courses can be customized according to specific needs.
Follow us on TWITTER @ CTTAGLOBAL
Our FACEBOOK page is "The Canadian Tactical Training Academy"
www.ctta-global.com