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CAIR Chicago posted the following report on October 4, 2016:

An Upcoming Hyper-Militarized and Anti-Muslim Tactical Officers Training in Chicagoland Sparks Deep Concerns for Muslims and Communities of Color

(CHICAGO, IL, 10/4/16) – The Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) today expressed deep concerns about anti-Muslim and hyper-militarized tactical training at the upcoming Illinois Tactical Officers Association’s (ITOA) 2016 Tactical Training Conference taking place at the Stonegate Conference and Banquet Center in Hoffman Estates from October 9-13. CAIR-Chicago is calling on Stonegate as well as Cook County Department of Homeland Security & Emergency Management (DHSEM) and other government agencies to end their relationships with ITOA.

ITOA’s Tactical Training Conference is a five-day SWAT tactical training and weapons expo aimed at training local police and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) “like tactical squads in the military”, and increasing the flow of weapons and militarized technology into greater Chicagoland and throughout nation. This poses a direct threat to Muslim communities and communities of color.

The keynote speaker for the conference is Sebastian Gorka, a far-right extremist and Donald Trump consultant who has consistently called for the expansion of law enforcement to carry out suspicionless monitoring and surveillance of Muslim and refugee communities.

Dr. Sebastian Gorka is an internationally recognized authority on issues of national security, irregular warfare, terrorism and democratization.

It is truly sad to see the Council on American Islamic Relations vigorously opposing law enforcement training that will benefit the public safety of all Americans.

Florida Family Association has prepared an email for you to send to thank Illinois Tactical Officers Association, Cook County Department of Homeland Security & Emergency Management and Stonegate Conference and Banquet Center officials for their efforts to properly train law enforcement to more fully understand how to protect the public from terrorism.

The email for this article was deactivated for time lapse.

Contact information:

Cook County Department of Homeland Security & Emergency Management

Toni Preckwinkle
Cook County Board President
toni@tonipreckwinkle.org

Ernest Brown Executive Director
Ernest.Brown@cookcountyil.gov

Natalia Derevyanny   
Deputy Director of Communications
natalia.derevyanny@cookcountyil.gov

Illinois Tactical Officers Association
itoa@itoa.org

Stonegate Conference and Banquet Centre

George M. Moser
President, Stonegate Development Corp.
gmm@stonegategroup.com