12.1 |
Security Sector Reform
“Encouragingly,
the Iraqi police are co‑operating and demonstrating a willingness
to
work
alongside the Coalition Forces in order to address the law and
order situation.”
210.
The IPAT
explained that ORHA had:
•
issued
guidelines “to ensure that a standardised approach is utilised
while
re‑organising
the police within each military area of
responsibility”;
•
established
“criteria for vetting existing and screening newly
recruited
personnel”;
•
stated that
programmes of instruction to re‑train all existing personnel and
new
recruits
would be complete by mid‑June;
•
increased
salary levels; and
•
begun
vetting of senior police officers in response to the
de‑Ba’athification Order.
211.
The IPAT
assessment concluded:
“The Iraqi
Police, as currently constituted and trained, are unable to
independently
maintain
law and order and need the assistance and guidance of Coalition
Force
assets (or
some similar follow on force) to accomplish this
task.”
212.
The Iraqi
police would need to be “redesigned and redeveloped” if they were
to
become
capable of engendering public trust and confidence and being able
to recover
from the
“years of neglect” and the “repressive command structure” that
prohibited
training,
proactivity and initiative.
213.
The IPAT
recommended demilitarising the structure and ethos of the police
and,
while it
recommended that the new police force should be recruited primarily
from those
who served
in the previous Iraqi police, there should be tight vetting
arrangements,
retraining
and “the establishment of an aggressive Office of Professional
Standards …
that
ferrets out corruption while immediately addressing unprofessional,
unethical or
criminal
behaviour within the Service”.
214.
The IPAT set
out a summary of the principles to be applied to vetting. It
explained
that the
purpose was both “to remove unacceptable personnel from the
existing …
service”
and to prevent unsuitable individuals joining the reconstituted
police service.
In addition
to physical fitness and basic Arabic literacy, the criteria
included:
“•
No
affiliation with the Ba’ath Party in accordance with … CPA Order
No.1;
•
No reported
history of human rights violations or history of mistreatment
or
abuse of
other persons;
•
No criminal
history involving violence, theft or violating the public
trust;
•
No reported
history of a propensity to engage in violence or criminal
acts;
•
No reported
history of immoral or unethical activity.”
105