Policing the police

last updated 8 January 2015

Baghdad

The U.S. military has overhauled control of Iraqi police forces, in an attempt to stop units from operating as death squads. Many of the recent massacres across the country were perpetrated by men wearing police uniforms. “There are some individuals who have joined the ranks of the Ministry of Interior forces who still have allegiances and are in fact working with their militias,” said Maj. Gen. Joseph Peterson, the top U.S. trainer of Iraqi police. Other killers, though, may have been militants who merely dressed as police. Under the new system, police battalions will all receive new, standardized uniforms that will be harder to fake, and they will be responsible for closely monitoring their equipment and vehicles.