In Iraq, the U.S. 18th Military Police Brigade is running a school for Iraqi policemen. Each class of about a hundred Iraqis go through a three week course conducted by 33 American MPs. The 18th MP Brigade has some 5,100 MPs deployed in central and northern Iraq. The course shows the Iraqis, most of whom had been police under the former Iraqi government, modern police methods, or at least those commonly used in the United States. About 5-10 percent of the Iraqis are unable to complete the course. Traditional Iraqi policing was reactive, while the American style of policing puts more emphasis on being proactive (finding and taking care of situations before they become a problem.) While many Iraqi police have been rehired with just some screening (to keep out any with histories of abusive or corrupt behavior), the goal is to put all Iraqi police through this training, and to raise their pay (currently about $60 a month) to make it easier for cops to avoid corrupt practices.
