BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, April 6, 2004) -- After completing eight physically and mentally demanding weeks of training, 479 men and women officially joined the Iraqi Police Service during a graduation ceremony at the Baghdad Police Academy April 1st.

This class was the second to graduate from the International Police Academy since the program’s inception in December of 2003. So far, 945 academy graduates -- men and women -- have joined the ranks of the Iraqi Police Service.

“You, the men and women of the Iraqi Police, have chosen the side of civilization,” said U.S. Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, U.S. Civilian Administrator, Coalition Provisional Authority, addressing graduating class. “Within you and your colleagues, are the difficult answers to the shameful barbarians of Fallujah and Karbala and Najaf and Baghdad. You follow in the finest tradition of all humanity as you take up the task of protecting the innocent.”

Instructors from Iraq, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Austria and Jordan taught the basics of police paperwork, search techniques, sensitivity training and traffic control.

Special attention was given to human rights training, according to officials. Officers are taught that they are civil servants; their primary job is to protect the people.

In addition to their police training, students were faced with cultural challenges. They had to learn how to work with members of different religious groups and members of the opposite sex. Members of the graduating class included Kurds, Sunni, and Shiite Muslims.

“We must all come together as one if Iraq is to be a free democracy,” said Col. Hussein Medi, dean of the academy.

Students spend the first four weeks of training learning the theory of police work and the last four weeks putting that theory into practical application. Once they have graduated, officers spend two weeks in the Transition Integration Program working with current members of the IPS. Upon completion of those two weeks, they will be given orders assigning them to their permanent assignments within the Baghdad Police Department.

“You have chosen a dangerous and difficult path,” Medi said, “You are to be commended. I am proud of you, all of Iraq is proud of you and we will stand with you as we continue on to a safe and meaningful freedom.”

Working for the IPS has become one of the most dangerous occupations in Iraq because officers have become the preferred target of insurgents, Medi said.

Falling under the Ministry of Interior, the current IPS force contains 67,000 officers. It is the goal of the academy to graduate 32,000 officers by Jan. 2005, said Master Sgt. Bill Saccente, academy operations non-commissioned officer, 415th Military Police Liaison
Detachment.

“You, the finest of the honorable majority of Iraqi’s men and women have chosen to confront the evil doers, to carry the banner of civilization,” Bremer said. “Your efforts and those of the millions of Iraqis who support you will make a difference.”

(Editor's note: Cpl. Benjamin Cossel is assigned to the 122nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.)