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Iraq needs experienced police not more troops, says top UK officer

IRNA

London, Oct 14, IRNA -- A senior British police chief in charge of 
law and order in Iraq criticised the UK government Tuesday for not 
giving him the resources he needs. 
Stephen White, an assistant chief constable in Northern Ireland 
said that international experienced police officers are what Iraq 
needs, not more troops. 
"If people are sitting (in government offices) in Whitehall, or 
sitting in shire counties of England thinking we had better not take 
any risks, it`s too dangerous for UK police officers, I`m embarrassed 
as a professional police officer," he said. 
His warning, voiced in an interview with BBC Northern Ireland`s 
Spotlight program being broadcast Tuesday night, comes amid reports 
that plans to send up to 200 British police to southern Iraq have 
been delayed due to disputes among ministers about the dangers faced. 
White, who was expecting 1,500 international recruits to be sent 
to help the fledging local police, was sent to Iraq after his former 
colleague in the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Paul Kernaghan, warned in 
June that the streets of Baghdad are "too dangerous" for UK police. 
He said that he could understand the concern because people were 
being killed but insisted that "at the end of the day our job is to 
minimise that risk and try to do something that makes it a safer 
eventually for everyone." 
HC/212 
End