Creation and Dissolution of The OPS
The United States has a long history of providing police aid to Latin American countries. In the 1960s the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Office of Public Safety (OPS) provided Latin American police forces with millions of dollars worth of weapons and trained thousands of Latin American police officers. In the late 1960s, such programs came under media and congressional scrutiny because the U.S.-provided equipment and personnel were linked to cases of torture, murder and "disappearances" in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay.
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's director in Washington, Byron Engle, was close to the CIA.
In 1966, US senator J. William Fulbright started criticizing the OPS's methods. Then, informed by Brazilian opposition members, US senator James G. Abourezk set about to disclose the OPS's program. 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 banned the provision by the U.S. of training or assistance to foreign police with a statute known as Section 660 of the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA).
The OPS had formed a million policemen in the Third World. Ten thousands of them had undertaken training courses in the US. $150 million worth in material had been sent to foreign police forces.
Most of the OPS's missions were transferred to others agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, while the US Department of Defense continued to transfer equipment to security forces in foreign countries. OPS officer Jack Goin went on to found a private security firm, Public Safety Services, Inc., in Washington.
Read more about this topic: Office Of Public Safety
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