Posted on 08/17/2008 1:51:17 PM PDT by SandRat
BAGHDAD — In January 2008, Multi-National Division – Baghdad’s 18th Military Police Brigade developed a new method to further improve the surging Iraqi police force by implementing the enhanced Police Transition Teams to concentrate on supporting IP systems in Baghdad.
The ePTT is a group of Soldiers who have subject matter expertise in: personnel, communications and logistic operations and techniques in support of large organizations; their mission is to assess the IP organization and provide assistance to better the organizational management of the IPs in these areas.
Since then, the ePTTs have been embedding with the IP force at the directorate and provincial levels to help improve the IP systems management process.
“The IP leadership is taking advice from the ePTTs and taking responsibility for their stations while feeling more comfortable working with the recommendations made by the ePTT subject matter experts, who are improving the IP systems in Baghdad,” said Lt. Col. Thomas Lombardo, operations officer, 18th MP Bde., during a recent assessment visit of the police transition teams in Baghdad.
Prior to January, the Coalition forces and International Police Advisors, who are civilian law enforcement officers from the United States, hired by DynCorp, were both working on IP systems, but the partner trainers were not combining their efforts. Under the new ePTT, the two organizations are now working together.
Several areas one team was working on during this particular week were fuel consumption, distribution and accountability in several facets.
“We are trying to get a handle on the fuel corruption, issuing out of supplies and equipment, payroll issues, training new and previous IP and investigation techniques,” said Capt. Shannon Nowak.
Besides these specific areas, the main job of the ePTT is to partner side by side with the IP as they perform their daily jobs and provide assistance to improve the IP systems capabilities.
“The team is at the directorate almost daily, working right alongside the IP to improve their systems,” said Nowak.
In contrast to the standard Police Transition Team, the PTT at the station levels around Baghdad are run by military police Soldiers. Their roles are to train the Iraqi police and teach them how to conduct community policing in the areas they are assigned.
Despite the challenges the ePTT face, the Soldiers are out there every day working with the IP at the directorate level to further improve the force in order for the IP to provide rule of law to the Iraqi people in Baghdad.
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