Tyndall AFB cops join local Bay County Sheriff’s Office to learn about a new bumper mounted ‘grappler’ system, 12DEC2021. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Magen M. Reeves.
The U.S. Air Force’s (USAF) Security Force (formerly Security Police or Air Police), on Tyndall Air Force Base (AFB), have made a policing deal with the Florida Highway Patrol and the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Tiffany Price, 14JUN2021.
The policing deal blurs the federal-state-local police jurisdiction lines by allowing USAF police to patrol Bay County and Highway 98, and will allow state and county law enforcement to patrol the AFB.
In July 2021, Tyndall AFB tactical response team conducted SWAT training with Bay County Sheriff’s Office and Panama City Police Department. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Stefan Alvarez.
However, this is not the first time that Florida has allowed the USAF to get involved with local police ops: “We have been fortunate lately to be more active with Tyndall in a training aspect. We have had an awesome time sharing information, experiences, and seeing first-hand the mutual respect we have for each other.”-Lieutenant Jason King, Florida Highway Patrol
In December 2020, Tyndall AFB partnered with Bay County Sherriff’s Office to conduct a police driver course (Emergency Vehicle Operations Course). USAF photo by Second Lieutenant Kayla Fitzgerald.
Pay attention to how Major Jordan Criss, of the USAF’s 325th Security Forces Squadron, explains the rationale behind getting involved in local policing: “These partnerships are a tremendous force multiplier for our Security Forces. Not only due to the necessity for mission generation, but also because we learn so much from one another and establish long lasting ties with the community as ambassadors of the U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense.”
‘Force multiplier’ is a military phrase that refers to anything that can be used to increase your unit’s fighting potential. But what does Major Criss mean when he says there is a “necessity for mission generation”? Is there a covert order to increase military policing of civilian areas? Major Criss continued his justification by saying “Integrated Defense is a team sport. Everyone inside and outside the fence line plays a different role for the collective effort to protect our power projection platforms and the people that generate those missions.” In other words, it’s all about protecting the military, not civilians.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Bailee A. Darbasie, 03JUN2019.
In a more insidious partnership, in June of 2019, Tyndall AFB commander Colonel Brian Laidlaw signed an agreement with Bay County to create a permanent county tax collection operation on the federal air base! Officially it was so that Bay County residents working on-base wouldn’t have to take time off from their jobs to pay their local taxes and, for some reason, to reduce lines at the Bay County office (ever hear of mailing in your tax payment?).
Speaking of taxes, in February 2018 Tyndall AFB gave Bay County Commissioner Robert Carroll a ride in a T-38C (apparently just so the politician can experience what the USAF is about), which according to 2013 data costs federal taxpayers more than $9-thousand per hour to operate:
And in April 2018, Bay District Schools teacher Cathy Felty got to take a federally funded ride in a Tyndall AFB T-38C, just for winning Teacher of the Year.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Isaiah J. Soliz, 09APR2018.
Title 5: FOR FIRST TIME, AIR NATIONAL GUARD HIRES CIVILIAN COPS! COVERT OP TO EXPAND FEDERAL POLICE FORCE?