Posted on 08/14/2006 6:08:16 PM PDT by SandRat
WASHINGTON, Aug. 14, 2006 – About 92 percent of Iraq’s 188,000 Ministry of Interior forces now are trained and equipped, and all Iraqi National Police soon will receive new official uniforms, the commander of the Civilian Police Assistance Training Team told Baghdad reporters today. Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Peterson reported major strides in preparing Iraq’s police elements for their security mission.
Among Iraqi police, the largest group of Interior Ministry forces, about 90 percent are trained and 83 percent equipped, he reported. Those operating in nine key Iraqi cities U.S. forces have been working with are about 99 percent equipped.
The National Police, which used to be called the Special Police, are 98 percent trained and 92 percent equipped.
In the Department of Border Enforcement, the element that initially received a lower resourcing priority as other Interior Ministry elements received equipment, forces are 92 percent trained and 56 percent equipped, Peterson said.
“So, with regard to Iraqi police and police services, and also the National Police, you can see that they’re doing very well right now,” he said.
Eighty percent of the platform instructors at 12 training academies that dot Iraq are Iraqis, and Iraqis will run and administer all the academies by year’s end, Peterson said.
Another 185 international police trainers, most contractors from the U.S., and 169 to 170 police transition teams also are helping build the police forces’ capabilities, he said.
Peterson unveiled a new digitized-print uniform, similar to the U.S. Army green uniform but with small Iraqi flags embedded into the pattern, to be issued beginning in October to all Iraqi National Police officers.
Officials are working to standardize the uniforms and make them distinctive so insurgents impersonating police officers can’t easily copy them, he said. The uniforms will be tightly controlled, and every national policeman should have three by year’s end.
Officials are working to standardize the uniforms and make them distinctive so insurgents impersonating police officers can’t easily copy them, he said. The uniforms will be tightly controlled, and every national policeman should have three by year’s end.
Another story the major markets probably won't be picking up.
Security of the design will last until a cop wearing said garb is ambushed. Shortly after we will see China putting out megayards of it.
Hmm...I wonder if there will be something in the uniforms that will not be evident to the naked eye, but might be discernable to "something else"...
While they're at it, they should issue now-inexpensive holographic ID cards. Something that when worn would be distinctive from 5-7 feet away. And while they *could* be faked, it would just be extra difficult to do so.
They might even discreetly put RFID chips in various places of their uniform, equipment and ID so if someone passed through an electronic checkpoint and all their RFID chips didn't match, or there were the wrong number of RFID chips...
This is not to say a policeman would know why he was suddenly taken aside for a quick and thorough ID and uniform check. Just pure, random luck I guess.
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