Training Iraqi Cops

Surge, deadlines, benchmarks; your opinion is probably already rising in your throat with those words, right? Well, swallow it back down for just a second. Here's an issue that's very affected though not much talked about in political back and forth over the future of Iraq - the civilian police force.

For four years law and order has been the responsibility of the US army in Iraq. There have been attempts at training and maintaining civilian police forces but they haven't been all that successful. The chaos and uncertainty would be enough to try even the best of cops. A senior police commander in Iraq says that his force needs five years before they can take over.

That seems like a long time and he isn't optimistic. In light of the current debate in the US government Iraqi police are being given four weeks worth of training then they are sent out on the streets for further on-the-job training. It's like trying to build an airplane that you're already flying in, the chief U.S. training officer for the National Police says.

Did You Know . . .

I was researching an article about soft body armor and Kevlar when I came across this surprising little fact: The first body armor was made of silk!

Makes sense, well as much sense as anything else, I suppose. This is how it happened. A Dr. George Goodfellow observed a gunfight in Arizona in 1881. Later he examined the body of one of the victims and he saw that, though dead, the man didn't seem to be bleeding from his gunshot wound.

Upon closer examination he noticed some silk material sticking out of the wound. When he tugged on it he found the bullet wrapped in it. So this bullet which had ripped through the man's coat, shirt, skin and bone failed to pierce a silk handkerchief.

The idea of netting bullets rather than deflecting them was born and soon soft body armor made of silk was being manufactured. In fact Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria was actually wearing it when he was shot and killed. The bullet struck him in the neck which was unprotected. Imagine if the bullet had hit him just a little lower. It may have become a relatively unknown event rather than the spark that ignited WWI.

Police Ammo Delays: Thanks to the War?

We all remember that bloody shootout between police and two would-be bank robbers in North Hollywood ten years ago. The robbers had shown up to play with full body armor and rifles whereas the cops had the standard issue pistols and shotguns - standard but in this case inadequate. The long standoff resulted in 14 dead - the two robbers and 12 policemen. The tipping point in the battle was when the police borrowed - yes, borrowed - some rifles from a local gun shop!

Since then police departments across the country have been adapting and upgrading their firepower to at least match what they might encounter on the streets. Now may policemen carry rifles loaded with hollow point bullets. Those hollow points are expensive and are reserved only for on-duty use. Training is carried out with standard bullets and, as it turns out, the same bullets used by the US military.

As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan drag on with no sign of letting up any time soon, the military's demand on the supply of bullets has caused sever shortages, shipping delays, and price increases. According to a recent article by Richard Brooks with The Press-Enterprise, some departments have seen their costs double and the delays stretch out for months. And this price increase hasn't been restricted to rifle ammo; pistol bullets have seen the same cost and delay problems over the last five years.

Know Your Local Gun Laws

OK, quick, how much do you know about the gun laws in your state? Maybe you remember that a couple of years ago there was some political bro-ha-ha over some concealed weapons bill. But do you know if there are any laws restricting handguns and minors? How much – if any – background check is required at gun shows and what agency performs these checks?

Maybe you know a little less than you thought, right? I know I did. Check out this quick little quiz I found on About.com’s crime and punishment site. It will really test your knowledge of local gun laws.

I only got 4 out of 10 right and I must confess that I guessed on at least two of these! A bit embarrassing but as the quiz points out, that only means that I have more opportunities to learn than if I’d scored better.