Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BAGHDAD432
2009-02-19 10:49:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Baghdad
Cable title:  

PRT SALAH AD DIN: IRAQI POLICE RECRUITMENT ON

Tags:  PGOV PREL PTER PINS IZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO6582
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #0432 0501049
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 191049Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1783
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000432 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/19/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PINS IZ
SUBJECT: PRT SALAH AD DIN: IRAQI POLICE RECRUITMENT ON
TARGET, BUT STAFF AND EQUIPMENT CHALLENGES PERSIST

Classified By: PRT Leader Rick Bell for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000432

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/19/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PINS IZ
SUBJECT: PRT SALAH AD DIN: IRAQI POLICE RECRUITMENT ON
TARGET, BUT STAFF AND EQUIPMENT CHALLENGES PERSIST

Classified By: PRT Leader Rick Bell for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (U) This is a PRT Salah ad Din reporting cable.


2. (C) SUMMARY: The Iraqi Police (IP) force in Salah ad Din
(SaD) continues to meet its targets for recruitment and
training, but faces several challenges that could limit its
effectiveness. With the number of recruits scheduled to
graduate basic training in 2009, the province will exceed 100
percent of its training goals. However, most of the senior
IP officers in SAD do not have permanent hiring orders, which
leaves them open to potential immediate dismissal. The lack
of permanent orders for the officers is largely due to their
having been members in the Ba'ath party under Saddam. These
officers feel that they are working under an umbrella of
suspicion, and fear they will eventually be fired by the
Ministry of the Interior (MOI). SaD IPs also complain about
a lack of funding for equipment and weapons training. END
SUMMARY.

--------------
SUFFICIENT RECRUITMENT LEVELS
--------------


3. (C) SaD IP recruiting efforts continue to proceed
smoothly. The province's IP force currently has over 16,000
personnel out of a total authorized number of 18,000. The
SaD Transition Integration Program (TIP) academy graduated
388 students from its Basic Recruit Training (BRT) on
December 18, and another 390 students on January 22, which
brought the province up to a 100 percent trained level for
its police. The recruits come from various backgrounds,
including Sons of Iraq units in SaD. However, some of these
are not present for duty: approximately 1,400 are still on
the books but are either retired or dead.

-------------- --------------
LACK OF PERMANENT HIRING ORDERS COULD CRIPPLE FORCE
-------------- --------------


4. (C) According to the SaD Provincial Director of Police
(PDOP),Major General Hamed Al-Namis, the biggest challenge
facing the SaD IP force right now is the uncertain status of
1,300 police officers who have not been issued permanent
hiring orders. The 1,300 are all officers, comprising
approximately 75 percent of the SaD IP officer corps
(including the PDOP). Without permanent orders, MOI can
discharge them at any time--a move that would cripple IP
efforts in the province. Besides the negative effects on the
morale of the force, the lack of orders also means that
officers individually have no retirement benefits, and no
compensation for injuries or death suffered in the line of
duty.


5. (C) The uncertainty surrounding the status of the 1,300
officers can be traced back to May 2008 when the MoI issued a
memo disqualifying them from service. The most common reason
for disqualification is membership in the Ba'ath Party under
the old regime. Despite the memo's statement that payments
for the 1,300 would stop at that time, the MoI has continued
to pay them. SaD IP officials have chosen not to push the
issue, in hopes that the political changes following the
elections this year will result in more favorable treatment
from MoI.


6. (C) The staff at the TIP Academy remain helpful to
Coalition Forces (CF),but this is a fragile union due to the
hiring-order issues. Currently there are 27 officers
(including the dean of the academy),11 policemen (shurta)
and one civilian employee at the academy without hiring
orders. The loss of them would greatly harm the academy's
ability to accomplish its mission. Some of the academy staff
believe that it was the CF, not the MoI, that prevented the
Qbelieve that it was the CF, not the MoI, that prevented the
issuance of permanent hiring orders, and that CF could
address this if it wished.

--------------
INADEQUATE FUNDING FOR WEAPONS AND TRAINING
--------------


7. (C) Despite strong recruitment, the PDOP has told the PRT
that the force has inadequate funding for weapons training
and equipment: according to the PDoP, there is no ammunition
for training and no shooting range. The force is short on
weapons and able to equip only 60 percent of its members.
SaD IPs manage this shortage by sharing weapons between
shifts. There is also a shortage of armored vehicles, which
the IP lacks money to buy. The PDOP also said the force
needs more funding to hire specialized employees such as
surveyors and engineers.
BUTENIS