California Trains Cops, Prison Guards With Anti-Muslim Video

The California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), which sets the minimum selection and training standards for California law enforcement, produced the video in 2009. Hatewatch viewed the 109-minute video after receiving it from a source close to law enforcement. The video portrays a misunderstanding of Islam and Black Islamic communities that experts say was prevalent among law enforcement in the years following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Rife with errors and misconceptions about Islam, the film features an accused grifter who paints a dire image of the “growing, not dissipating” threat posed by Islamic extremists. The video’s entire premise appears to be based on a single case from 2005 involving four suspects.

Hatewatch obtained POST’s documentation related to the video through an information request. Documents show that POST sent the video to 769 separate mailing addresses in 2010, including police departments, community colleges and law enforcement training facilities. It is unclear how many officers underwent the course on DVD. Hatewatch reached out to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department (SDSD), the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Academy and others on their use of the video. Only SDSD and the LAPD responded. SDSD information officer Amber Baggs confirmed to Hatewatch the video is still available on POST’s learning portal. Baggs also said the “San Diego Sheriff's Department does not use any training video titled ‘Radicalization.’”

Atlanta radio station WABE, a National Public Radio affiliate, also reported anti-Muslim training courses in Georgia’s POST in 2018. Former police chief and Army Lt. David Bores, an anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist who was a mainstay in Southeastern law enforcement training, instructed the course. Bores sometimes worked with former FBI agent and anti-Muslim conspiracist John Guandolo. Guandolo once trained law enforcement across the country, though his bookings have lessened significantly.

https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022/12/09/california-trains-cops-prison-guards-anti-muslim-video