“When I come to Washington, I feel despair. When I’m in Iraq with my commanders, when I talk to my soldiers and Iraqi leadership, they are not despairing,” said General John Abizaid, the head of US Army’s Central Command or CENTCOM.

Abizaid was responding to military expert Sen. Hillary Clinton, whose military experience consists of being married to a draft-dodger, and posing for photos with soldiers ordered to do so.

The junior senator from New York said, “Hope is not a strategy. Hortatory talk about what the Iraqi government must do is getting old. … The brutal fact is it is not happening.”

While the decorated general attempted to educate the Senate Armed Services Committee about the current situation in Iraq, Sen. Clinton and some others were more interested in creating soundbites for the evening news broadcasts and the newspapers.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Police Service continues to graduate more and more police officers from advanced and specialty courses at the Adnan Training Facility as part of the Iraqi government’s ongoing effort to train its security forces, according to a report submitted to the National Association of Chiefs of Police by the Civilian Police Assistance Training Team officials in Iraq.

Several members of NACOP are currently in Iraq assisting with the training of police officers in basic and advanced courses.

These advanced courses consist of Basic Criminal Investigation, Interview and Interrogations, Violent Crime Investigation, Criminal Intelligence, First-Line Supervision, and Election Security.

The Basic Criminal Investigation course, designed to introduce participants to basic concepts of criminal investigation, covers topics such as theft, burglary, arson, robbery, sexual offenses, and homicide investigation. Students receive classroom instruction and hands-on training in fingerprinting, photography, tool marks and plaster casting techniques. To date, over 4,000 police officers have completed the Basic Criminal Investigations course.

The Interviews & Interrogations course covers advanced interview and interrogation techniques and includes instruction on the preservation and protection of human rights, and the importance of ethical behavior during interviews and interrogations. All totaled,more than 1,000 students have completed this course.

Violent Crime Investigation course introduces participants to investigative techniques to be used in a variety of situations, but particularly in violent crimes including armed robbery, rape and murder.

The Criminal Intelligence course provides training in the planning, collection, analysis and distribution of intelligence information. This course also equips participants with the ability to recognize trends that may have an impact on public safety and security.

First-Line Supervision focuses on major leadership areas for front line supervisors including human rights training, ethics and corruption, policing in a democracy, and interpersonal skills critical to effective leadership.

The Election Security course covers the responsibilities of the police to ensure peaceful elections. Potential threats and areas of concern are examined from the standpoint of security and protection of candidates and the voting public during the election period. To date, about 600 officers have completed the course which includes a train-the-trainer component to enable participants to serve as trainers in their respective police stations.

Officers who participated in these courses previously completed either an 8-week basic training course for new recruits or a 3-week ‘transitional integration program’ course designed for police officers currently serving, who have received little or no basic training.

—

Read more by this author on our site here. (Scroll down)

Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he’s a staff writer for the New Media Alliance. He’s former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed “Crack City” by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He’s also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He’s a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com. He’s also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he’s syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. He’s appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc.