When veteran Fresno Police officer Mike Harris learned about the high causality rate among Iraqi Police officers, he made the decision to help. 'Just about every law enforcement agency in the United States has surplus and expired equipment. This is perfectly good gear that for one reason or another is not being used,' Harris explains. 'I asked what Fresno was planning to do with our surplus equipment. When I was told it was slated for destruction, I asked if we could send that equipment to Iraq instead.' Fresno City leaders agreed to help, and within months the Brotherhood of the Badge was born.
Now a non-profit organization, the Brotherhood of the Badge has sent more than 20,000 bulletproof vests into the Iraqi theater, along with thousands of helmets, radios, and other protective equipment. Since its start in 2003, over one hundred law enforcement agencies from across the United States have donated equipment to the cause, and private donations of more than 2.7 million dollars have financed the purchase of new bulletproof vest. US military personnel distribute the gear to Iraqi officers who have been trained by US forces. This life saving equipment is protecting Iraqi police officers and firefighters, while also helping to bring peace to the nation. 'The bond between law enforcement officers extends beyond borders. We hear the call of our fellow officers in that war torn country who are in need,' says Harris. 'It is our duty to help.'
A PLEA FOR HELP THAT SPARKED THE EFFORT
BA’QUBAH POLICE STATION, BAQUBAH, Iraq -- It began as a plea for help – brother to brother, police officer to police officer.
Diyala Police Chief, Gen. Waleed Khaled Abed Al-Salaam, had been fighting alongside coalition forces for the security of Diyala province since assuming his position in August 2003. When he started, he had only the most primitive tools and equipment.
He needed help.
So late one night last December, this dedicated and charismatic leader with over 20 years of law enforcement experience, sat down in his office in the Ba’qubah police station and wrote a letter to detective Mike Harris – a man he had never met. He had heard about Harris from a Soldier with the California National Guard’s 649th Military Police Company stationed here during Operation Iraqi Freedom I, and who was also an investigator from the Fresno, Calif., Police Department.
“We worked together and he saw how I worked an investigation and he told me ‘If you have more investigators who are as smart, with all the technology we have in the States, I think you guys could beat the American investigators,’” said Waleed. “He was always talking about Mike Harris, so I suggested I write a letter to him, from a police officer to a police officer, away from the governments.”
In his letter, Waleed detailed his experience with the police force, the corruption of the old regime, and told of the headway his police force was starting to make. He explained the current state of his police force, which lacked essential equipment and supplies.
“We started working and we didn’t have anything except a broken chair and a table with three legs, we used bricks for the fourth leg,” said Waleed. “We started working to build a new Iraq, so I wrote to him to help me out as much as he can.”
Waleed also described in the letter other obstacles his policemen faced daily, including terrorist attacks - specifically, two attacks in which 10 officers were killed and 36 wounded.
“The attacks were intended on intimidating us and preventing us from doing our job,” he wrote. “Instead of this happening, the opposite occurred. Our colleague’s corpses, the destroyed buildings and burnt cars gave us the way to choose the path to building a new Iraq. A framework for an Iraq based on freedom and democracy.”
Harris responded and from the relationship that ensued was born the Brotherhood of the Badge, a partnership between the Fresno and Ba’qubah police departments. After corresponding for several months, Harris came to Ba’qubah to meet with Waleed and to see how the Fresno P.D. could best aid the struggling Iraqi police force. After Harris returned home, supplies began arriving at the Ba’qubah police station.
To date, the Fresno P.D. has contributed 273 helmets, 174 vests, 80 batons, 60 utility belts and 120 radios. They have also recently decided to add the police station in Ramadi to their partnership. However, Harris realized that supplies alone were not enough to help the station get back on its feet after over 20 years of neglect. So he invited Waleed to visit his police station in California.
The visit is planned for mid-October. Accompanying Waleed will be Capt. Christian H. Solinsky, the Diyala province police coordinator. Solinsky, a field artillery officer from Blackfoot, Idaho, has worked closely with Waleed since arriving here in January and has been facilitating the burgeoning partnership.
“The cities of Ba’qubah and Fresno are the first. I think other cities are starting to catch on,” said Solinsky. “I know (The Brotherhood of the Badge) is getting big, and they want to make it bigger. Part of chief’s trip is to help facilitate this. He’s going to be the first Iraqi to go to the States as part of this program.”
"The purpose of partnership is to provide an exchange of equipment and resources and perhaps someday training, said Solinsky. The purpose of the visit to California is to provide Waleed with training and mentorship. He will also come back with the Fresno Police Department’s entire training curriculum," he said.
"The visit has garnered much interest. Even California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has expressed an interest in meeting with Waleed," said Solinsky.
The Diyala Police Force and Chief Waleed have a long, hard road ahead of them in their efforts to stabilize and build their new democratic nation. In the old regime, the Ba’ath party had 13 agencies with over 200,000 people working to maintain order, Waleed explained. Now the job is left up to the 4,000 men of the Diyala Police Force.
“There was no fighting with insurgents back then,” he said. “These 4,000 fight crime and insurgency. Don’t forget, we also have stolen cars, robberies, kidnappings, murder crimes, drugs - they start showing up these days - after the fall… That’s our job, that’s our mission, to fight everything at one time with these 4,000 guys."
Attacks on the police officers have discouraged many, said Waleed. So he started meeting with them every day - on the streets they’re patrolling, and at their police stations. He has fired over 300 police officers who left their posts and didn’t show up for four to five days following attacks. He explained his belief that God controls man’s destiny - when and where he will die. But he also said that it is different to die at home in bed than to die in the line of duty, aiming for a goal.
“When you die doing your duty, it means that you gave away your life for your people and your family and your country and your community,” he said. “It is more honorable. (The officers who deserted) hurt the brave police officers, who didn’t leave no matter how many souls we gave away.”
As of Sept.15, the Diyala police force had lost 85 police officers in the line of duty, and over 150 have been wounded. Four have lost legs. With the help of coalition forces and the Fresno P.D., Waleed foresees a bright future for both his police force and his country. He believes that with democracy established, Iraq will flourish, and in about 20 years, Iraq will be as prosperous as some of its neighbors – Kuwait, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.
Waleed said that he couldn’t blame the Iraqi people for what’s happened in Iraq, and likened them to a bird that’s been locked in a cage, and the cage locked inside a room.
“When you open the cage door for the bird, he doesn’t even know the main door is open because he’s been blind for 20 years,” he said. “Pretty soon he’s going to be flying everywhere trying to find the door, but the door is open! He’ll be flying into walls, bouncing around. After a little while, he’s going to calm down and find the door. That’s the Iraqi people. We just need time to find that door.”
Story by Sgt. Kimberly Snow, 196th MPAD
