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Iraqi police force `to take years`

IRNA

London, Oct 11, IRNA - The problems of creating an Iraqi police force 
are so dire that the British-American occupying coalition troops will 
need to provide support and training for years to come, according to 
Jane`s Defence Weekly. 
Reporting from inside Basra, the London-based weekly said that 
equipment shortages were "shocking" and corruption was "evident." 
There were also issues about recruitment and credibility. 
The US-led coalition in Iraq have been increasingly pinning their 
faith on the creation of local police and paramilitary forces to 
bridge the `law and order gap.` 
But senior Danish police adviser in Basra Detective Chief 
Superintendent Erling Sorensen, who previously served as an adviser to
the Palestinian police, told the magazine that the effort to create a 
viable Iraqi police force will "take years," 
"The experience of Palestine says it will take at least three 
years in order to successfully implement a training programme," he 
said. 
Sorensen warned that the coalition needed to move fast so "time 
may be a problem." Most of the recruits had the ability to do a good 
job but were "very conscious of their lack of means to do the job," he
said. 
Another coalition official in southern Iraq said that support so 
far had only been rudimentary and the force so far had not even been 
given cars, radios, handcuffs and other basic necessities. 
A British army officer underlined the size of the task saying that
there was only one phone at each police station and maybe just one or 
two police cars in the whole of Basra. 
"The police react to incidents on foot. Most police stations don`t
even have a fridge for drinks. No wonder their performance leaves a 
lot to be desired," he was quoted saying. 
HC/211 
End