New ANP Recruits Graduate in Baghlan province

PUL-E-KHUMRI, AFGHANISTAN

12.16.2010

Story by Sgt. 1st Class John Queen 

1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division

By Sgt. 1st Class John Queen

PUL-E-KHUMRI, Afghanistan – The Afghan National Police in the Baghlan province of Northern Afghanistan swore in its newest members, Dec. 16, during a graduation ceremony held at Forward Operation Base Khilegay near the town of Pul-e-Khumri.

The 46 new ANP were members of the first class to graduate the Directed Police District Development program held in the region.

“It’s a six week course, and this whole time we are teaching them police concepts,” said Spc. Jacob Tyree, a military policeman assigned to Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 10th Mountain Division, and an instructor at the course. “I feel confident that when they go out there they will do the right thing.”

Supported by the 1st Brigade Combat Team’s 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment and run by military police assigned to 1BSTB and civilian contractors from Military Professional Resources Inc., the program is designed to train both experienced and inexperienced members of the ANP and helps them gain a common knowledge of the Afghan Rule of Law.

“We are trying to help them think like police officers rather than a military force,” Tyree said.

Throughout the six week course the trainees are instructed on basic policing, first aid, Afghan Constitutional Law, ethics and human rights. Additionally they receive training with weapons, drill and ceremony, and situational awareness.

Tyree explained that at times they use scenario based training to see how the ANP trainees will react.

“We try to make it as real as possible,” he said. “We try to take real-life situations – like one scenario we did – we had one man that wasn’t a criminal, but he was angry because three months ago his brother was shot by an ANP officer. So we had the ANP arrive and try and calm this person down.”

The instructors tried to help the students understand how this person would feel by asking them how they would feel if one of their family members was wounded by an ANP.

“We got trained in the right way we can do our job professionally,” said Pvt. Hamdullah Sangri, one of the newly sworn-in ANP members through an interpreter. “If we haven’t had any training, we can’t be aware of the law, or in enforcing the law.”

During the last three days of the course the instructors put the trainees through a series of “training lanes” that incorporated all of their training.

“We have been taught by special experienced mentors and we learned lots of different things,” Snagi said. “It is very good, this way I can serve my people and it helps my family and their livelihood.”

After graduation the new ANP will return to hometowns and villages and begin performing their police duties.

• Date Taken: 12.16.2010
• Date Posted: 12.25.2010 12:51
• Story ID: 62601
• Location: PUL-E-KHUMRI, AF