Posted on 10/12/2006 5:33:17 PM PDT by SandRat
WASHINGTON – The Iraqi Interior Ministry, with the help of Coalition Forces, is developing a strong, loyal and capable police force.
“Collectively we can improve their skills and teach them truly how and what democratic policing is all about and what community policing is all about,” Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Peterson, commander, Civilian Police Assistance Training Team, told journalists in a Pentagon press briefing Oct. 6.
Peterson explained that CPATT is charged with helping the Iraqi government to build and develop its Interior Ministry, as well as to train Iraq’s National Police, a paramilitary force that eventually will take over nationwide domestic security responsibilities from the Iraqi Army. The force will also work with provincial and local law enforcement agencies to apprehend, investigate and prosecute criminals.
CPATT comprises more than 1,000 personnel from El Salvador, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. Only approximately 110 individuals are drawn from coalition military forces; the majority are civilian police officers, serving as advisers to officials in the Interior Ministry and in 39 embedded teams working alongside National Police units. CPATT personnel also instruct at training facilities and evaluate the capabilities of the existing police forces.
The team’s mission to train 188,000 police officers is now 99 percent complete, the general said, and 82 percent of the force is fully equipped and engaged in security operations. By end of 2006, he said, the team expects to have trained an additional 10,000 officers, an accomplishment that will go a long way toward replacing the 12,000 policemen who have been killed or wounded in the line of duty.
Peterson’s force is only one component of the overall coalition effort to improve Iraqi law enforcement in 2006, designated “The Year of the Police.” Provincial and local police stations across the country also benefited from 6,000 police professionals recruited from Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States to staff 185 police transition teams deployed to over 1,000 police stations.
Despite these positive indicators, the coalition acknowledges the police force lags behind the progress made by the new Iraqi Army. Most significantly, the police have failed to fully gain public trust because of allegations that sectarian militias extensively infiltrated the force.
On Oct. 4, the Interior Ministry suspended the entire 8th Brigade of the Iraqi National Police’s 4th Division, removing the entire unit from its post in Baghdad for three weeks of intensive retraining. This decision followed an incident in which police failed to intercept gunmen who raided a meat-processing plant in their territory and kidnapped 22 Sunni Muslim workers. The bodies of seven of the abducted men have since been found.
In an Oct. 4 Baghdad press briefing, Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told journalists the officers might have allowed the attack deliberately.
“There is clear evidence that there was some complicity in allowing death-squad elements to move freely when in fact they were supposed to have been impeding their movement,” he said, or that police might not have responded as rapidly as needed.
In a related move, Peterson reported Iraqi authorities arrested the commander of the division’s 2nd Battalion because members of his unit might have had a direct role in the kidnappings.
Peterson praised Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani’s decisive action in this case. “The minister has been concerned about two principal issues within the ministry – corruption and sectarianism. He's very vigilant and also has taken action.”
“I really believe that the decision to withdraw the 8th Brigade from their current mission in Baghdad and to put them in a training status is very, very positive, Peterson said. “And it will grow confidence, not only in the [Interior Ministry], but also its forces.”
The 8th Brigade was among units identified as poor performers during an assessment by the Interior Ministry and Coalition Forces conducted from August through September. The program, called “Quick Look,” was led by Peterson’s team as part of the Interior Ministry’s “transformational training” agenda.
The next step for improving performance is three weeks of training focused on leadership development, community policing and other essential skills. Peterson said that, working through NATO, the coalition is planning to bring in members of Italy’s Carabinieri to supplement the training effort.
Peterson added the training will focus on the importance of being loyal to Iraq, to Iraq’s constitution and to the people of Iraq.
He said every officer successfully completing the transformational training program will receive a bonus from the Ministry of Interior. Caldwell also said all graduating officers get new, ministry-approved police uniforms, making it more difficult for militants to impersonate police officers.
"If you put together this equation, … we have a more functional ministry that is capable and then capable forces that we are continuing to grow, continuing to mentor, teach and coach down in their police stations," he said. "And I see great progress, and I believe you should be optimistic about that."
“Yes, there are problems out there,” Peterson said, but with the current leadership, resolve and the quality of the people involved “this country and this ministry can be successful.”
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