The most elite training force in America is training with actual live-fire blanks in the city of San Antonio, Texas. Chief Phillipus talks about his concerns about the training and why he refused to allow them to do so.
00:00:00.000Chief Philippus, we really appreciate you taking out the time.
00:00:04.000A lot of public officials and public servants are afraid to even talk to the public or the press about things like this.
00:00:11.000When did you first become aware that Delta Force, the most elite training force in America, is what the Pentagon says, wanted to train with actual live-fire blanks here in San Antonio?
00:00:28.000I want to say back in February when they first approached us, maybe even earlier than that, about doing some operations in the San Antonio area.
00:00:36.000What were your major reservations in asking the mayor to tell them that y'all didn't want them to train here and to cease training here?
00:01:05.000The city manager's office was contacted about using city facilities.
00:01:09.000Various business owners were contacted through the economic development department.
00:01:13.000The fire department was contacted by different individuals.
00:01:17.000So there was never any coordinated approach to the city of San Antonio.
00:01:23.000When we found out about it, we had some reservations, but we were willing at least to listen.
00:01:28.000But then we started finding out that discussions were happening at other different levels, and there was no communication, no coordination between that.
00:01:35.000We also found out that leases had been negotiated with private business people throughout the city to utilize their vacant buildings without any coordination with the police department, because we were originally told there were probably going to be a couple of locations, and later on we find out that there's 12 locations.
00:01:52.000And yet, we were never brought into this at the beginning.
00:01:56.000Last Saturday, the Austin American Statesman did an article about how they're practicing taking over police departments in Chicago.
00:02:07.000That's one thing that some cities I've heard have had reservations about.
00:02:10.000They call it touring the police department, but they actually practice dynamic entry and other things at the police departments.
00:02:17.000I heard that they were planning to do this in Houston, that they've already done some training along with the Marines and other forces of the military.
00:02:25.000Have you ever heard of anything like this before?
00:02:29.000They did offer to allow our SWAT teams to do training with them in these particular exercises, but, you know, our missionaries are different.
00:02:39.000Their deals specifically with international type situations.
00:02:42.000Our deals with local situations, and if an incident were to occur in this country, it would be local law enforcement, the FBI, and others that would deal with that.
00:02:51.000Whereas the Delta Forces purely kill the terrorists.
00:03:47.000You're saying that they ignored the police chief and under our Constitution, you're the same as the sheriff, and you run the city or the county.
00:03:55.000You're telling me that Delta Force was ignoring your order?
00:04:00.000I don't want to say they ignored it, but a roundabout way, yes, because what they would do once I said no, they went to various individuals in the community to bring pressure to bear to get me to change my mind.
00:04:10.000For example, there was a community leader who I have a great deal of respect for, and we have a very good relationship that they went to.
00:04:16.000I get a call from him, and he says, Chief, there's some people in here that they're in town, and it was part of their role here.
00:04:34.000Well, then I find out it's the same group.
00:04:37.000So they identified somebody, apparently, that I know that's very high in the community to make an approach to me and get me to change my mind.
00:04:45.000Well, then, when we said no, then some elected officials were contacted to bring pressure to bear.
00:04:51.000And then offers were made to give money, cash money.
00:04:56.000To elected officials, charities, if they could get us to change our minds.
00:05:01.000I mean, you know, as one of my deputy chiefs said, in some circles, that's called bribery.
00:05:05.000Well, it is called bribery, but more importantly, it's called manipulation of the constitutional system and the takeover of local police departments.
00:05:14.000And that $4,600,000,000 that we just saw on the Statesman that's so wonderful is buying them a lot of control if they can't buy the police chiefs off like they did Elizabeth Watson.
00:05:25.000For that $244,000 a year job at the Justice Department.
00:05:29.000Let's hear him say that one more time.
00:05:31.000To make an approach to me and get me to change my mind.
00:05:34.000Well then, when we said no, then some elected officials were contacted to bring pressure to bear.
00:05:41.000And then offers were made to give money, cash money, to elected officials' charities if they could get us to change our minds.
00:05:51.000I mean, you know, as one of my deputy chiefs said, in some circles that's called bribery.
00:05:55.000Why do you think in Chicago, and we're not aware of this, I'll get you a copy of it, that they're practicing taking over police stations and fire stations and bridges?
00:06:05.000That seems like a military takeover of the city.
00:06:19.000You talked about a memo from Delta Force?
00:06:23.000Yeah, because what happened is various elected officials were being contacted.
00:06:28.000I have ten city council members and a mayor, and I just wanted to alert them as to what was happening.
00:06:33.000That these situations were occurring, that they might be contacted by these individuals, and that in the best interest of public safety, and that's what I continue to fall back on, we didn't feel that it was in the best interest of the citizens of San Antonio to do that type of thing.
00:06:50.000All I can say is that, you know, no just never seemed to be no.
00:06:55.000And even after they told us, we don't need you, we're still going to do our training exercise at other locations.
00:07:03.000In and around the San Antonio area, but we're allowed to do them here.
00:07:06.000Next, I'm still getting contacted by various officials.
00:07:09.000I mean, they never would say, take no for an answer.
00:07:11.000So they weren't respecting your jurisdiction?
00:07:13.000They were not respecting our jurisdiction.
00:07:16.000I don't think they respected our decision.
00:07:19.000To go into predominantly minority areas of the city where we had vacant warehouses and buildings and try to do those types of exercises at those locations in the middle of the night.
00:07:51.000And you kind of, the city and the mayor and yourself, as the police chief, you kind of felt that it was a little odd that they wouldn't trust y'all.
00:08:01.000I mean, y'all are the authorities here.
00:08:04.000And once I made contact with my peers in some of the other major cities, and they shared with me some of their experiences over there, the decision really was very easy.
00:08:14.000My interest as police chief is the citizens of the city, period.
00:08:18.000And I was not about to jeopardize the safety under an exercise of this magnitude under any circumstance.
00:08:27.000Well, you can't say it any better than that.
00:08:29.000This isn't some wild conspiracy theorist.
00:08:32.000This is Al Philippus, head police chief in San Antonio, Texas.
00:08:54.000Oh, and by the way, according to the May 10th, 1998, Sunday edition of the Austin American Statesman Metro and State, they're conferring with people here in Austin, and sometime after June of this summer.
00:09:08.000They plan to have this training here in Austin, Texas.
00:09:11.000I guess our safety isn't important, despite the track record North Carolina, $100,000 damage, and in Miami, a stray bullet from the Delta Force going into a crowded restaurant.
00:09:24.000I hope he shows the same will that Mayor Howard Peake did, but I think Watson's just concerned with making all the big, fat, juicy kickbacks.
00:10:24.000My interest as police chief is the citizens of the city, period.
00:10:28.000And I was not about to jeopardize the safety under an exercise of this magnitude under any circumstance.
00:10:38.000What types of training were they wanting to engage in?
00:10:42.000I mean, again, I heard some reports that they wanted to do live fire with blanks and perhaps actually some incendiary flashbangs and things.
00:10:50.000Ticklers of that, I know that they wanted to use some explosives for entry into some of these buildings, some of the so-called ceramic bullets, which would be fired into little traps, which were supposed to catch those, which would disintegrate supposedly on contact.
00:11:04.000But I know that in one city, American city, that one of those bullets got astray and going through a window and down almost into a restaurant.
00:11:34.000We have a tremendous amount of respect for the military and what they do.
00:11:38.000But I do not have any respect for the tactics that were used by the advance team coming in here.
00:11:44.000You're saying that they were disrespectful?
00:11:46.000They were courteous and friendly to us, to our faces.
00:11:51.000But, again, when you make a decision, you try to get information to go around and try to put influence on you from pressure groups and individuals, either elected or in the community.
00:12:20.000And I've seen the September 23rd, 997 Layer News Hour, 60 Minutes, a few months later, came out with a story about secret military training with local police departments.
00:13:37.000When they ask him about the training with Delta Force and other military forces, he looks at the camera and smiles and says, I'm sorry, that's classified.
00:13:48.000Now, to me, that's when six, eight months ago when the red flags went up, when I saw a local law enforcement official saying that something was classified with the military and he couldn't talk about it.
00:14:01.000Again, we just want to thank you all for showing independence of Texas, of America, of San Antonio, that you all are open to that.
00:14:11.000What do you think about, and I understand you haven't seen this, but if that is true on Lair NewsHour, do you think that that's a red flag or something strange?
00:15:07.000If we need to work with the FBI, DEA, Secret Service, or other federal law enforcement agencies that have jurisdiction in this country, then we will certainly do that.
00:15:17.000But we're not about to engage in those kind of activities with various military groups.