June 15, 2007:
The Iraqi police have, like police
forces throughout the Middle East, been cursed with pervasive corruption. Even
when Saddam ran the country, the national police were considered a bunch of
corrupt buffoons. To control the country, Saddam created several security
services, including, by 2003, a large force of street thugs, who were unleashed
on any neighborhood or town that was showing signs of unrest or disloyalty.
That approach is no longer acceptable in Iraq, and efforts to create a modern, efficient
police force have proved difficult.
Currently there are 140,000 cops in the Iraqi
Police Service. This is the force that takes care of regular police work. That
includes public safety, traffic control, solving crimes and so on. Then there
is the more elite Iraqi National Police, which provide SWAT and riot control
police who operate all over the country. These are the police most deliberately
involved in counter-terrorism work. Finally, there are the 28,000 border
police, who guard border crossings, and dozens of forts along the border, from
which they patrol the frontier, and search for smugglers, terrorists or anyone
else crossing illegally.
While there are thousands of good, effective, and
reasonably honest cops in Iraq, the majority are either corrupt, or under the
control (voluntarily, or via terror) of tribal, religious or political
organizations. The basic problem is that Iraqi police have never gotten into
the concept of "protect and serve" (the public.) As much as one may criticize
the police in the West, the Iraqi police are far, far worse than the most vile
police force you will find in Europe or North America. Iraqis immigrating to
the United States are shocked at how efficient and incorruptible American
police are, especially when compared to the police back in the old country.
While a lot of Iraqi politicians pay lip service to
the idea of an honest and efficient police force, they know that Western style
cops would be inconvenient for Iraqi style government officials, and big shots
in general. The Iraqi leaders do allow American, and other Western nations, to
keep training Iraqi cops, and police commanders. Some Arab nations, like
Jordan, which have efficient and much less corrupt police, have also been
helping out with training. But many of these instructors leave, after a year of
so in Iraq, uncertain if Iraq will have a modern police force any time soon. It
will take a massive change in public attitudes and opinions before honest and
efficient cops are accepted and tolerated. Right now, it's dangerous for an
Iraqi cop to be honest and efficient.
Iraqi leaders know better than to admit that there
is a serious cultural problem here. Instead, Iraqi officials and politicians
just say they are working at producing an effective police force, when, in
fact, they are doing much the opposite. Police corruption is a problem that has
to be talked about openly a lot more, before there is any hope of achieving a
solution.