09 September 2008
BEIRUT: Officials from a US led-program launched to provide training and resources to the Internal Security Forces (ISF) gave a positive assessment of their first eight months in charge of the ISF police "academy" on Monday. The $60 million program will see nearly 10,000 ISF officers trained by the United States over the next four years, as well as securing new equipment and facilities for the ISF academy in Beirut.
The US launched its Lebanon Police Training Program in January this year in an effort to "protect Lebanese citizens and visitors to Lebanon from criminal activities." Virginia Ramadan, director of security programs at the US Embassy said: "Our program will train 8,000 cadets and 1,200 officers. More than a third of the ISF will be US-trained."
The program, designed by American experts in partnership with Lebanese police officers, is taught by specialist training instructors selected by the US government.
The curriculum was written by a US team with the help of an ISF officer. Recruits to the academy learn routine policing activities such as vehicle searches and first aid, as well as protocols for rarer situations such as hostage-takings. The course also contains lessons on dealing with suicide bombers, improvised explosive devices and the safe handling of firearms.
There are specialist components of the course that emphasize the importance of human rights, criminal investigation, law, and policing skills. Each class is taught by both US and ISF training officers. There are also daily sessions of physical training to ensure that ISF recruits are fit to work effectively.
Since the US took control of the program, it has also introduced a "visitor program" in which students, instructors and officers who excel on the course are selected to travel to the US to spend 10 days working with law enforcement agencies. Eleven officers formed the first group, who traveled to the US last month to visit police forces in Washington DC, North Carolina and Florida.
The ISF members who went on the trip visited forensics laboratories, police stations and took part in manning vehicle checkpoints. They also spent time observing American police officers working on drug-law enforcement.
The Lebanese officers spent the trip living with local families and visited BAE Systems, a company which provides security hardware to police and military forces around the world.
One of the stated aims of the program is to "cement Lebanese government control over its whole territory," but US course administrators reject the notion that the program is designed to favor one political group over another.
Although the United States has designated Hizbullah as a terrorist organization, Martha Bacile Findlay, the curriculum coordinator, said that sections of the course dealing with terrorism did not mention specific terrorist groups. Instead, she said, the course offered "a general overview of terrorist tactics."
"There are many different definitions of terrorism, and we don't claim to have the definition in the classes," she said.
Al Stewart, one of the senior US instructors, emphasized that the training was not designed to push any political viewpoint on the recruits. "This is a basic police training academy," he said. "One man's terrorist is another man's patriot. We don't take sides. We have a systematic approach."
He said that recruits at the ISF academy were responding well to the new training program. "We have found the students receptive. This academy has extremely high standards."
Colonel Munir Chaaban, a senior ISF officer who liaises with the US instructors, paid tribute to America's contribution. "With all these elements added to their training, the police officers will feel more secure, more comfortable and more enthusiastic," he said.
Copyright The Daily Star 2008.
