Iraqi Police conduct raid in Bayji

Courtesy Photo | An Iraqi Police officer from the Salah Ad Din Emergency Police Battalions escorts a detainee at a Tikrit Iraqi Police station. The detainee was a suspected criminal caught during a raid August 21 in Bayji, Iraq.  

TIKRIT, IRAQ

08.23.2005

Courtesy Story

DVIDS Hub       

Staff Sgt. Thomas Mills
1BCT Public Affairs

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Tikrit, Iraq -- Iraqi police conducted a massive raid Aug. 21 in Bayji, Iraq, netting 10 detainees.

The operation was planned and executed by the Iraqi police and was comprised of about 500 Iraqi policemen from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Emergency Police Battalions, who raided several houses in Bayji targeting people suspected of criminal activity in the area, said Capt. David Zickafoose, Iraqi Police Services officer-in-charge, 1st Brigade Combat Team, Task Force Liberty.

He added that Soldiers from 1st BCT's Company B, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, were on hand to help with security and that the mission was entirely an IP operation.

"They chose the targets, they chose the date, they chose the time," Zickafoose said. "The only thing we did was provide an outer cordon."

In the past the EPBs have relied more heavily on Coalition Forces.

In recent missions, however, the IPs have taken much more control over their operations, another Coalition Soldier said.

"They've become more independent," said Sgt. 1st Class Stephen Wettstein, 1st BCT IPS noncommissioned officer-in-charge. "Before this operation the IPs weren't as efficient in their search methods, but they have improved greatly."

They have improved so much, Zickafoose said, that they are asserting themselves more and more in the process of planning, including planning how Coalition troops are used in the support role.

"They were coming close to telling us how they wanted it done," he said. "That's actually a really good thing."

Zickafoose added that although the IP has been conducting operations independent of Coalition input for some time, this particular operation was different.

"The unique thing about this raid is it's a three battalion operation," Zickafoose said. He said the amount of planning and coordination in a raid like this is quite complicated. "That's actually pretty impressive," he added.

These raids are not necessarily aimed at anti-Iraqi forces and insurgents.

"They look for criminals," Zickafoose said. Often, he said, the murderers and kidnappers also turn out to be insurgents.

The policemen gathered information on their targets using undercover officers like police in the United States, he said.

"Everything they have back in the States they have here," he added.

Aside from having an infantry company to support them, the IPs also coordinated with 1st BCT for aerial support from U.S. Army attack helicopters and Air Force fighter jets.

• Date Taken: 08.23.2005
• Date Posted: 08.23.2005 13:05
• Story ID: 2822
• Location: TIKRIT, IQ