Team Works to Turn ‘Posse’ Into Professional Police Force

American Forces Press Service ^ | Petty Officer 1st Class David M. Votroubek, USN

[SandRat]

NOWRAK, Afghanistan, March 24, 2008 – The landscape in Afghanistan’s Zabul province reminds some Americans of a scene from a western movie. So did Afghan law enforcement when Army Capt. Curtiss Robinson and his police mentoring team rode into the province’s Shahjoy district.

Army Capt. Dave Perry and Afghan National Police commander Sakhidad plan a security operation against insurgents in the Shahjoy district of Afghanistan’s Zabul province. Sakhidad commands police officers at Hassan Karez patrol base in Shahjoy, which maintains security and civil order along Highway One and all populated areas in the district. Perry leads the district’s police mentoring team, which is training the Afghan officers to project their presence beyond the road into the nearby villages, where most security threats originate. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class David M. Votroubek, USN   
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

Robinson recalled that the police force there at the time was really nothing more than a “posse,” because they had enthusiasm but no formal police training.

There were no police advisors in Shahjoy before Robinson’s team got there in July, so the first step was to create a training plan for the police.

Robinson is an Army logistics officer with civilian law enforcement experience in South Carolina. Others on his team also had police experience, so they used it and their military training to teach the Afghans some fundamental policing skills.

The next step came from Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry, which implemented a new “focused district development” strategy late last year to reform the Afghan National Police and improve local governance, public works and the rule of law.

Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan, with the Interior Ministry and the international community, developed a plan to take all the police out of their communities, retrain and re-equip them at regional training centers, and send them back to their districts.

Seven of the most challenging police districts were chosen for the first training cycle. Three of them, including Shahjoy, were from Zabul province.

During the eight-week course at the Jalalabad regional training center, Shahjoy’s police learned about general police duties, weapons, building clearance, first aid, human rights and Afghan law and culture. After graduating, the police returned to their district and police mentoring team advisors began the next phase: sustainment training and advising. Now that they’ve been trained what to do, Robinson explained, they need to practice how to do it.

The Afghan police officers will have to improve their skills quickly; after they returned to Shahjoy, Taliban insurgents also began returning to the area.

The commander of Nowrak patrol base, Lt. Fazal Rahman, took his men on a patrol and found a prepared fighting position with four rocket-propelled grenades for attacking passing trucks. It was only 25 meters from Highway One.

U.S. Army Capt. Dave Perry leads the Shahjoy district police mentoring team and has developed a patrol plan for the police officers. Rather than have them wait for trouble on the road, he wants them to patrol the nearby villages, where most of the security threats originate.

“Policing before was static,” he said. “We’re getting them out in the community to show the people some government representation so they know the police are there to help.”

The next day, Rahman’s men patrolled Nowrak village and Perry accompanied them through the village to introduce them to the village elders. The local citizens provide information, Perry said, and helping them is the heart of “community-based policing.”

The police in Shahjoy no longer resemble a “posse,” and officials hope having a professional police force will make the district seem less like the Wild West. Police Chief Mohammed Rasool said that perhaps someday the police in Shahjoy will need to carry only nightsticks – not guns.

(Navy Petty Officer 1st Class David M. Votroubek serves with the Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan Public Affairs Office.)

Related Sites:
Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan
Combined Joint Task Force 82

	Army Sgt. Michael Barker stands as rear security for officers of the Afghan National Police while they conduct a presence patrol in Nowrak, Afghanistan. Barker is a member of the Shahjoy district police mentoring team, which is helping train the Afghan officers. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class David M. Votroubek, USN    Download screen-resolution    Download high-resolution
	Army Capt. Dave Perry and Afghan National Police Lt. Fazal Rahman brief Afghan patrolmen before a presence patrol in Nowrak village, Afghanistan. Rahman commands these patrolmen from a patrol base in the Shahjoy district of Zabul province. Perry leads the district’s police mentoring team, which is training the Afghan officers to extend their presence beyond the road into the nearby villages. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class David M. Votroubek, USN    Download screen-resolution    Download high-resolution
	Army Capt. Dave Perry and Afghan National Police Lt. Fazal Rahman brief Afghan patrolmen before a presence patrol in Nowrak village in the Shahjoy district of Afghanistan’s Zabul province. Rahman commands these patrolmen from a patrol base in the district, where they maintain security along Highway One. Perry leads the district’s police mentoring team, which is training the Afghan officers to extend their presence beyond the road into the nearby villages. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class David M. Votroubek, USN   Download screen-resolution    Download high-resolution
	Officers of the Afghan National Police conduct a presence patrol in Nowrak village in the Shahjoy district of Afghanistan’s Zabul province. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class David M. Votroubek, USN    Download screen-resolution    Download high-resolution

[SandRat]

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[Grimmy]

Afghan police, such as these here, are often the first targets for talitards. Takes a special kind of brave to want to try standing up knowing full well that there’s little back up available when the monsters come to cut your head off.

There’s no perfect solution. As long as our side keeps plugging and pushing, the fight’s a win. It’s only a loss if we stop trying.

[fantom]

Well , they could start by wiping out the gene pool of each home grown fighter the run into. The next step is demand help from the farmers , or burn their poppy fields. This new tone war has gone on long enough . Fight this thing to win , or , get the hell out. 5 yrs . Enough already..

[Grimmy]

General rule of thumb for insurgency ops is 10 years minimum. Some have gone for decades.

Personally, I am a fan of disenpopulation of continually problematic geographic areas. But that’s just giving vent to the same sort of sub-juvenile “gimme cookie NOW!!” temper tantrum that your average 5 year old displays.

Of course, the trick is to pull it up short when catching myself playing that bullcrap and then go back to being an actual adult.