Jordan Times
Sunday, July 9, 2006
Iraqi police academy graduates 29th class
JIPTC will have trained almost 50,000 cadets by the end of the year
By Grace Peacock
AMMAN — More than 1,500 new Iraqi police cadets graduated from an eight-week training course at the Jordan International Police Training Centre (JIPTC) yesterday where their commanding officers wished them well in dealing with the harsh realities awaiting them back home.
“I want to take the opportunity to salute you for your courage to wear the uniform of the Iraqi police,” Claude April, deputy director of training, said to the officers at a morning ceremony.
“You as an individual must earn the respect of the Iraqi public you have chosen to serve. I pray you will all remain safe and wear your uniform with great pride,” he said.
April told The Jordan Times it is often difficult to watch the buses leave, full of Iraqi policemen proudly smiling and waving, knowing the fate that awaits a good percentage of them.
According to a recent report to the American congress, 4,372 members of the Iraqi security forces have been killed and another 33,850 have been wounded between May 2003 and April 2006.
“Iraq is in its most critical period of the past century,” said the guest of honour, Major General Iden Khaled Kader, deputy minister for police affairs in Iraq.
“We are having to fight the evil gangs who battle against us there while we try to establish a free and democratic country — one where we can build one free and united Iraq and enjoy safety and stability,” he added, wishing them courage and thanking them for their sacrifice.
This was the 29th class to graduate from the three-year-old training centre, located in a remote desert area outside of Amman. The graduation ceremony included speeches and a tactics demonstration. The total number of Iraqi graduates from JIPTC is now 36,491 and 10,000 more are expected to complete training before the end of the international mission in December.
Gary Bullard, director of JIPTC, is grateful for Jordan’s support in allowing the centre to be built on its soil and for the involvement of so many of its citizens. As instructors, cadet brigade commanders and base employees, Jordanians make up 83 per cent of the centre’s workforce.
“Jordan is a very strong partner on the international scene for the US, Canada and a lot of the international organisations. The King was really gracious to provide us the space to become involved and to give us such close proximity to Iraq. They’re going to be strong partners here in the future,” Bullard said.
Everyday 3,000 cadets undergo at least eight hours of training in theory-based and practical, hands-on policing. Theory classes focus on topics such as human rights issues, weapons handling, democratic policing, first aid, terrorism and gender issues.
Out of class activities involve defence tactics, firearms, bomb threats and explosive incidents and take place at the centre’s firing ranges, improvised explosive devices field and reality-based training facility.
“When we first started the training programme it was 25 per cent practical and 75 per cent theory and we’ve been working really hard to turn that around. We don’t want them to try to remember what we talked about, we want them to do what they did here,” said April.
The cooperation and involvement of 15 countries is what makes JIPTC unique, says Bullard.
“This is part of history, this is not something that will ever be repeated again... It shows the Iraqi people that the world is here to support them,” he said.