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MEHTAR LAM, Afghanistan - Sixty-two Afghan men made national history at the Laghman Provincial Police Headquarters in Mehtar Lam in eastern Afghanistan’s Laghman province, when they raised their police graduation certificates above their heads and proclaimed, “I work for Afghanistan!”
The Afghan uniform police graduates were the first class to graduate from the Laghman provincial police academy. The graduates completed six weeks of law enforcement training Nov. 4. The training was conducted by instructors from the Afghanistan ministry of interior, with supplemental training provided by Dynacorps contractors from the United States.
“I became a police officer because I wanted to work for my country and for the security of Afghanistan,” said Shokurullha, one of the graduates.
Prior to the academy at Mehtar Lam, Afghanistan police training in the area was conducted at the regional training center in Jalalabad. This training was primarily led by Dynacorps, however, the training at the Mehtar Lam academy was led by Afghans. Not only was the training more localized, it was also a step closer to the Afghan National Police conducting completely independent training. The Ministry of the Interior has set a goal of training 40,000 additional police officers nationwide.
The academy began Sept. 25. Much of the training was similar to training American police receive, including law training on the Afghan constitution and penal code, criminal procedure, traffic laws, handling prisoners, handcuffing and use of force, drug awareness and investigation, checkpoints and civil disturbance. However, Dynacorps assistant instructors said the officers’ daily duties will primarily focus on counterinsurgency and drug interdiction, as well as building strong working relationships with the areas they patrol.
“I really enjoyed learning the rules of policing, about human rights and how to interact with civilians,” Shokurulha said.
The officers trained all live in the Laghman province and will return to patrol that area immediately after graduation. They will be stationed in the district of Alingar. Many of the graduates, who range in age from 18 to 60 years old, worked as police officers without any formal training before coming to the academy.
ANP Maj. Abdul Raziq, the provincial training and education officer at the Laghman Provincial Police Headquarters, stated the training is necessary to field a proficient force in the area.
“The police need this basic training like a fish needs water,” Raziq said. “If we don’t have a trained force, how effective can we be? Police are to enforce the rules and understand the people and the people must respect them.”
Raziq added he is optimistic for future classes.
“I’m entrusting this class to do the job actively and honestly with the people,” he said. “We’re progressing as police into the future.”
| Date Taken: | 11.04.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 11.08.2010 15:28 |
| Story ID: | 59672 |
| Location: | MEHTAR LAM, AF |
| Web Views: | 68 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, First provincial police academy class graduates in Afghanistan, by MSG Ryan Matson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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