To: Bill Montgomery, Maricopa County Attorney and Michael Dvorak, Mesa Interim Police Chief

Cancel Anti-Muslim Law Enforcement Training in Arizona

John Guandolo is a disgraced conspiracy theorist and known anti-Muslim bigot who has been repeatedly dis-invited from addressing police departments. It’s unacceptable to have him training Arizona law enforcement officers.

Why is this important?

The Mesa Police Department in Maricopa County, Arizona, is hosting a training by John Guandolo—a disgraced former FBI agent known for peddling hateful anti-Muslim conspiracy theories.

Guandolo’s theories range from simply bigoted to downright bizarre: along with once stating that mosques "don't have a First Amendment right to do anything," he’s produced a video claiming that a Delaware imam who touched his nose during the Pledge Of Allegiance was signaling "civilizational jihad." He also believes that former CIA Director John Brennan had secretly converted to Islam.

This is the type of training that Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and Mesa Police Chief Michael Dvorak think is worth spending taxpayer money on. Demand that they cancel it.

Guandolo would be a comical figure if he wasn’t given credibility—and public money—by officials like Bill Montgomery and Michael Dvorak. It’s time for these Arizona officials to stop mainstreaming hate and cancel Guandolo’s training.

Other Arizona police departments have publicly vowed not to attend Guandolo’s trainings. And law enforcement offices around the country, from Kansas to Virginia, have previously cancelled or pulled out of his trainings.

But just as Guandolo is a fringe anti-Muslim extremist, the Mesa Police Department and Maricopa County Attorney are acting as outliers by embracing—and paying him for—his bigoted views.

In 2014, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery spent close to $40,000 in public money to bring Guandolo in for training. Now, once again, he’s reportedly booked a space at the Mesa Police Department to have Guandolo train local law enforcement officers in his bizarre and toxic brand of anti-Muslim bigotry.

Sign and let Bill Montgomery and Michael Dvorak know: John Guandolo and his trainings have no place in Arizona—or anywhere else.