IRAQI POLICE TRAINING CENTER IN JORDAN SPUTTERS TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 008071

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/10/2013
TAGS: PREL MOPS PGOV IZ JO
SUBJECT: IRAQI POLICE TRAINING CENTER IN JORDAN SPUTTERS TO
LIFE

Classified By: CDA DAVID Hale for reasons 1.5 (b) (d)

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Summary
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1. (C) The new Iraqi police training center in Jordan
recently received its first class of approximately 500
trainees. The center ultimately plans to provide basic
police training to 32,000 Iraqi recruits. The GOJ and the
training staff, some of whom trained police in Kosovo,
understand the importance of this effort to future stability
in Iraq. The international response has been positive, with
six countries committing trainers and another eight
expressing interest. END SUMMARY

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POLICE TRAINING CENTER BLOOMS IN THE DESERT
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2. (C) Emboffs December 10 visited the Iraqi police
training center one hour outside Amman, to observe progress
in the program. 486 Iraqi trainees arrived November 29 via
milair from Baghdad for an eight-week basic police course at
the invitation of the Jordanian government. The training is
conducted by U.S., British, and other third country trainers,
assisted by Jordanian and Iraqi police. A group from the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police was in Jordan this week to
confirm plans to send 20 additional trainers to Jordan by
January 11, and the Norwegian Ambassador said that Norway,
too, is likely to deploy a small number of trainers early in
the new year.


3. (C) Rin Shadforth, a British police officer who is
deputy director of the training center, said the instructors
use a slightly modified version of the basic police course
taught in Kosovo. Classes are taught in English, with
consecutive Arabic translation. Shadforth said the center
will produce a large number of police with basic training,
but will not fill the need for supervisory training (which he
said would be done separately at the police training facility
in Basra). The teaching staff is trying to identify likely
candidates for further leadership training.

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AN IRAQI MELTING POT
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4. (C) According to the teaching staff at the center, the
Iraqi police trainees come from all over Iraq. Despite
concerns that the group might break into regional, ethnic, or
religious factions, trainers report that the group has been
cohesive. The trainees were actually recruited two years ago
under the previous regime, and were in the Saddam regime
police training pipeline at the war's outbreak. This group
of 486 (19 of whom will be sent back to Iraq because they are
under the age of 18) will be followed by another five hundred
in January. While there are no women in the first class,
eight females have been identified for a future class, and
the facility is prepared to accommodate women. Originally
1,000 recruits were scheduled to arrive in January, but half
of these will now complete their training in Iraq instead.
By February the center expects to receive 1,500 trainees per
month, so that at any one time there will be 3,000 recruits
in training. The cycle will continue until 32,000 Iraqi
police have been trained.


5. (C) Conditions at the training site, which did not exist
two months ago, are spartan. However, dormitories, dining
halls, and classrooms are all functional. (The UK training
staff is being housed in apartments in Amman, although most
U.S. contract trainers are residing at the separate trainers'
residence facility in the nearby town of Jawa, provided by
Jordan's Public Security Directorate.) Construction of a
practice motorway and a firing range is still underway; the
center hopes to complete the firing range soon. There are no
plans for a simulated urban site for tactical training, along
the lines of "Hogan,s Alley" at Quantico. Most of the
training at this point is basic theory and drills. State/DS
is supplying the weapons for the training center.


6. (SBU) Ann Bertucci, a Dyncorps employee who is
spokeswoman for the center, said the GOJ plans to organize an
inauguration ceremony for the training center later this
month. Post is assisting with plans for the event.

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COMMENT
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7. (C) The GOJ and the training staff understand the
importance of this effort to future stability in Iraq. While
admittedly off to a slow start -- particularly on
construction of the facilities that will be needed to house
as many as 3,000 trainees -- the police training center is up
and running, and will now expand quickly. The international
response has also been positive, with six nations already
committing trainers: Jordan, Iraq, U.S., UK, and Austria,
with a definitive promise from Canada. Slovenia, Slovakia,
the Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Finland, Norway and
Sweden have also expressed a willingness to send trainers.


8. (U) CPA Baghdad minimize considered.

Visit Embassy Amman's classified web site at

http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/

or access the site through the State Department's SIPRNET
home page.
HALE