1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
CAMP TAJI - In an effort to make the Taji district north of Baghdad a safer place to live, Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers provided the Iraqi police stations in Taji, Saab al Bour, Mushada and Tarmiya, with 96 new trucks to help the police units in their endeavor to fight crime in the region Sept. 2.
Soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, and the 463rd Military Police Company are distributing the new trucks, repairing the district’s disabled police trucks, and providing police personnel with uniforms and weapons.
“When we arrived here, they (Iraqi police) were not able to sustain themselves,” said 2nd Lt. Mitchell Thompson, platoon leader, 463rd MP Company. “They are now able to sustain operations on their own. For instance, they have taken over several checkpoints in the Tarmiya district and are now able to maintain numerous patrols throughout the city.”
In the year dubbed “Year of the Iraqi police,” MND-B Soldiers, along with their Iraqi counterparts, have stepped up efforts to put the Iraqi policemen in the lead for security throughout Baghdad and the surrounding area.
Seven months ago in Tarmiya, the police station had less than 20 policemen patrolling by foot in the city of more than 35,000 residents. The police had two broken down vehicles, no uniforms, virtually no body armor, and lacked necessities such as bullets and weapons.
The city now has more than 145 Iraqi police officers equipped with new body armor, uniforms, bullets, 1,000 pistols, 1,000 assault rifles and enough vehicles to conduct combat patrols.
“These vehicles have enough power to chase the bad guys if we have to,” said an Iraqi police officer in Tarmiya. “I like these vehicles, and they will be very good for patrols. I also have a vest to protect my body, a (pistol) to protect myself, a helmet to protect my head and a vehicle to patrol.”
Before the police started taking control of security, the Iraqi army and MND-B Soldiers enforced security throughout the region’s cities. As the Iraqi police builds in strength and support, the police are taking the lead for security throughout cities in the region.
“I think they (the IPs) have improved dramatically,” Thompson said. “Now the police chiefs are taking charge of their stations and telling the policemen what needs to happen - and it does happen.”