Iraqi Police Becoming 'Very Capable' at Law Enforcement, Official Says

By Tim Kilbride
Special to American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 26, 2007 – Iraq’s growing police force is technically competent and functioning as it should within the country’s legal system, a top U.S. police trainer said yesterday.

The operational problems they have experienced are primarily the result of an unusually tumultuous security situation in Baghdad and elsewhere, said Army Brig. Gen. David Phillips, deputy commander of the Civilian Police Assistance Training Team and the senior military police officer in theater.

“I believe the Iraqi police are getting very capable in handling the law enforcement type mission and traffic mission. The problem you have is ... that there’s a lot of terrorists and insurgents who want to see them fail,” Phillips said, speaking to online journalists from Baghdad.

The Iraqi army, Phillips explained, is trained to contend with terrorism.

“When you compare the Iraqi army, who are over here fighting in an insurgency and against terrorists, we are training the police to perform law enforcement,” he said. “The training we give them – although they get tactical training – is primarily focused on being a police officer.”

Under normal conditions, Phillips said, the police would be engaged in “investigating crime and traffic patrols.”

In these capacities, the general said, the police are performing dramatically better now than even two years ago, when Phillips was last deployed to Iraq. He cited examples of traffic cops waving his convoy through traffic circles, and patrol officers walking their beat in a Baghdad neighborhood while local children played nearby.

With nearly 170,000 regular police on the country’s rosters, Phillips noted that in many areas of the country the Iraqi security forces operate virtually independently of U.S. and international guidance.

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