Iraqi police given further authority

Iraq Press ^ | 12/01/03 | Iraq Press

[Pikamax]

Iraqi police given further authority

Baghdad, Iraq Press, Decemeber 1, 2003 – In a bid to transfer authority to the Iraqis, the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority has agreed to give more powers to the emerging police force, Baghdad police chief said.

Lt. Gen. Hasan al-Ubaidi said the new powers have enabled his force to devise its own tactics to lower crime rate and make Baghdad safer.

“These powers have made us double our efforts and we are already reaping the fruits,” he said in an interview.

Ubaidi urged the CPA to grant his forces more powers because “they have received good training and are prepared to teach the perpetrators of attacks and explosions against us and the coalition troops new lessons.”

The CPA has accelerated the recruitment and training of Iraqis for security operations amid concerns that anti-US insurgency is bound to spread and intensify.

The Iraqi security force is now said to number 134,000 – more than there are US troops in Iraq.

The insurgents are aware that security will only return when enough Iraqi police are on the streets of Baghdad and other major cities.

As a result, they have stepped up their attacks on senior police officers and police stations in a bid to deter Iraqis from joining.

But Ubaidi said there is no shortage in recruits but the training and vetting usually take a long time.

“More and more policemen will soon end their training and graduate and join their comrades on the streets of Baghdad,” he said.

He said his men have captured “groups of terrorists who infiltrated the country from abroad and they are of different nationalities.”

The police chief declined to reveal their identity or countries of origin but said his investigations “have already uncovered a terrorist network.

“This has helped us to preempt several attacks,” he added.

He said 250 police cars are now on the streets of Baghdad.

But still the force is much less than what the ousted leader Saddam Hussein had at his disposal, he said, adding that 15 different security organizations then contributed to the policing of Baghdad alone.

ipnews

[First_Salute]

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