CIVPOL Diary: Eleven days until Christmas

By Supt. Joe McAllister

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Kandahar, Afghanistan — I'm in Dubai waiting to head home.  The last few weeks have been challenging in many ways. The two back to back losses of three soldiers hit everyone hard.  The last three were from our PRT; the impact was even deeper. I was leaving that morning from Kandahar Airfield and really felt guilty knowing what was going on. But I also realized there was nothing I could do to change it and truthfully it was time for a break.

Our new recruits have all deployed out to their respective stations and are working away.  They spent five weeks training in Ottawa, Petawawa, Wainwright, one week travelling and getting into theatre, then one week of induction training so they were very keen to get going. This is the last group deploying for a year as they have changed the mission to 9 months now.

We can now focus on things we couldn't do before as more Canadian police are deployed out to the Zhari and Panjwayi districts as well as in the city. The next two districts going for training are Arghendab and Dand/Daman. Four police officers will work with the US police mentors and trainers.

It has been another good marriage. Canada has the funding for many projects for these locations and the US have the mobility capacity to get around. But with anything it does come with risk. The more mentors and trainers out there, the greater the risk.  Thankfully I'm already losing my hair so you can't see me going grey or losing more with worry.

I have been working closely with the Provincial police chief and am now on my 4th US L.Col Police Mentor. One thing we decided is to build the morale of the Afghan police by dressing up their stations.   They look like fortresses, with some tables and chairs. We are now looking at Afghan motivational posters of their history, code of honour, parts of the Koran. We are trying to give them a sense of pride in their place and chosen profession.

Recently, I was on Kandahar T.V. with the Provincial Chief talking about policing. The topics were: what we are doing and how we are making his police better.  It was aired on Kandahar T.V. on a show similar to Good Morning America. The interpreter was going between myself and the host, trying our best to both understand what the other guy was saying. I haven't seen the tape yet but I'm told I have no carreer in T.V. Pretty harsh even if it is Afghan T.V.

Soon, the local police chief will try to introduce performance measures to its staff, like managing the senior staff and recording positive and negative actions; based on the concept "three strikes, you're out" rule. A reward system will also be considered for the officers when they do good work. Basically if he gets three serious issues against his men he fires them. At the same time, officers will get a reward if they do three solid actions that impact the community or saves lives.

Also, the US have agreed to raise the police salary to match the army’s, as well as providing them risk pay and double the food allowance. This will go a long way as many of our police were struggling to make ends meet so now we have a little more leverage on keeping them focused on their jobs.  And this recognizes how dangerous their job actually is. All these international funds get donated through LOFTA, Law and Order Trust Fund, which is a means by which many countries donate and provide assistance.  Canada is the third largest donor for this fund which gives us some say at the table.

Once the next plane departs, it will be off to British-Columbia. I will spend Christmas with my family which is great.

Best to all, and see some of you soon

Joe