U.S. trains Iraq Army, police in coordinating intel investigations
BAGHDAD — Officials said the Iraq Army and police are undergoing an effort to
improve coordination and cooperation. They said the two Iraqi forces
were being trained by the U.S. military to work together in the field of
intelligence and investigations.
"This training allows the ISF [Iraqi security forces] to draw direct
comparisons between evidence and a suspect," U.S. adviser Robert Wirkner
said.
Until 2010, the military and police were developed in separate programs
by the Defense Ministry and Interior Ministry, respectively. But officials
said the government of Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki determined that the
two forces must cooperate in such areas as counter-insurgency and border
security, Middle East Newsline reported.
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The U.S. military has been training both the Iraqi Army and police to
work in joint investigations. Officials said a key effort was to set common
standards that could facilitate the collection of evidence at crime scenes,
particularly in the wake of suicide bombings.
"The investigative training is breaking new ground by training both the
IA [Iraq Army] and IP [Iraq police] at the same time," the U.S. military
said. "The hope is
that the officers involved will help facilitate a stronger working
relationship between the two forces which, in the past, have seldom had the
opportunity to combine their skill sets and share gathered intelligence."
One course has been conducted at the Joint Security Station Deason in
Iraq. An investigating training team has been working with the 2nd Iraq
police and 17th Iraq Army divisions since January to train two
officers each from the army and police.
"This helps the investigator narrow down their search and leads to a
more successful prosecution," Wirkner, assigned to the U.S. Army's 1st
Division, said.
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