Photo By Spc. Leith Edgar | Iraqi policemen from Baghdad's Kharada District enter a building as Clint Jones, a...... read more read more
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by Spc. L. B. Edgar
7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
BAGHDAD – They wear matching body armor, ride in the same up-armored Humvees and load identical ammunition into M-4 rifles.
They are not Soldiers serving in the U.S. Army; they are seasoned American police officers working the unforgiving Baghdad beat. But the beat for these cops bears little resemblance to the relatively benign duties of policing U.S. cities. In fact, the duties of an international police adviser (IPA) are comparable to those of military policeman in the U.S. Army, said Kinston, N.C., native Billy Hedgepeth, an IPA on Forward Operating Base Rustamiyah in eastern Baghdad.
Far from "cake duty," the only "difference is I have longer hair and a goatee," Hedgepeth said, comparing himself to his military co-workers.
The challenge facing IPAs, like Hedgepeth, is to impart the wisdom of decades on the job to the relatively inexperienced Iraqi policemen, or "shurta" in Arabic, working to provide residents of Iraq's capital greater security.
To this end, approximately 25 IPAs are stationed on FOB Rustamiyah, teaching the fundamentals of police work to shurtas from Baghdad's Kharada District. The shurtas are there as part of a four-day crash course in leadership and law enforcement tactics.
This was the first iteration of the Iraqi Police Primary Leadership Development Course, which the 759th Military Police Battalion, out of Fort Carson, Colo., coordinated. Eight officers and 10 non-commissioned officers received certificates of completion after the final day of training, which concluded with a live-fire range on Aug. 23.
Designed to introduce western policing methods to the Iraqi policemen, the course was a mixture of lecture, discussion and practical exercises. Presentations in Arabic and English were given to the shurtas dressed in blue shirts with white stars and birds on the shoulders. The shurtas took copious notes and shared examples of life on the Baghdad beat.
The training refined the shurtas' skills and added to their repertoire of policing techniques. The classroom portion was primarily discussion, allowing students to provide feedback, said Macon, Ga., native and IPA instructor Tony Crews.
For the officers, leadership was the focus.
"What makes you a leader?" Crews asked the shurtas. Once they provided their definitions through an interpreter, Crews said.
"Leadership is the ability to make other people do what you want them to do," he said, adding it is just as much science as an art form.
Crews and his fellow instructor, and fellow Macon, Ga., native, Chuck Reynolds, taught the shurtas six styles of leadership: autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire, situational, transformational and charismatic.
"You will have to decide which style works best for you," Crews said, emphasizing success was not all based on a leader's choice of style. "Your success as a leader depends on the people you lead."
Improving leadership is important to the success of all Iraqi security forces, especially since authoritarian management was so ingrained in the Iraqi culture. In some cases, an arrest requires approval from a colonel, said Reynolds, a police officer with 31 years experience.
Consequently, delegation of authority to subordinates was stressed throughout the course.
"It's impossible for one person to manage 200 to 300 people," Reynolds said. "Every decision needs to be made at the lowest level possible."
Gaining the public trust is a major step for the Iraqi police force, said IPA Manuel Santos, a native of Alamogordo, N.M.
"We are the first line of the government," he said. "We must maintain a high moral standard."
Thus, the onus of the training was placed on the decision-making process, so the shurtas are better prepared to act in the absence of authority, Crews explained.
"As police officers you dedicated yourself to serve the community," said Crews, a police officer with 33 years of experience. "You can't let your personal feelings dictate what you do."
At times down the road, Crews said, the shurtas would be tested and therefore needed to maintain a courageous calm in the face of scorn and ridicule. Likewise, sectarian discourse was a major concern in a police force where religious and tribal ties often supersede allegiance to the government of Iraq.
"Whatever your beliefs are or are not, that should not affect your job," Reynolds said.
"We don't ask. We don't care," echoed Santos, about the religious beliefs of police in the United States.
In addition to instruction in western leadership and ethics, the shurtas also received more practical instruction in proper building entry, said Santos, a police officer with more than 20 years of experience.
"We try to teach in a way they can use (the techniques) in their jobs," Santos said.
The IPAs demonstrated the proper technique before having each Shurta perform the task under supervision. The same techniques used by U.S. law enforcement agents were taught.
"I challenge you to teach this to your men and I challenge you to find solutions to your tactical problems on your own. You men have the experience and the rank to make these things happen," Santos encouraged the shurtas. "Your men are only going to know how to do it if you train them."
| Date Taken: | 08.26.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 08.27.2007 11:26 |
| Story ID: | 11991 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 635 |
| Downloads: | 488 |
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