More Than 3,000 New Candidates Join Police Forces
The police force in Kirkuk continues to grow, as every 12 weeks or more often a graduation class of police candidates joins the active duty Kirkuk police force. The recent graduating class of 3,000 individuals was one of the largest yet to graduate from the Kirkuk Police academy.
The graduation ceremony was attended by many senior generals and other senior officers of the coalition. Major General Mark Hertling, Brigadier General Tony Thomas, and a number of other coalition officers were in attendance.
There was a memorial wreath laid to remember the recent loss of officers at a number of suicide bombings. The assembled guests were addressed by the commandant of the police academy, and he spoke eloquently about the sacrifices of the police force.
The recent class included nearly three dozen women. There was another class several weeks ago that had 58 women as part of the graduates, and each class features a number of women. Women in the Iraqi Police force is still a relatively new occurance.
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The police academy has been more and more successful, with the Kirkuk training academy featuring instructors from the Iraqi police force ranks. The number of instructors from the ranks of the Iraqi Army and national police has risen since the training that the coalition has given. More and more Iraqi instructors have qualified for instructor status, replacing many of the previous coalition instructors.