Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Whitney Houston | An Iraqi police officer dances in a crowd of comrades after a ribbon cutting ceremony...... read more read more
Subscribe
By Sgt. Whitney Houston
2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division
CAMP Taji, Iraq – Local leaders, Iraqi police, Iraqi army and coalition forces gathered, Sept. 2, 2008, for a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the opening of the Hammiyat Iraqi police station located next to the Taji market in the Taji Qada, northwest of Baghdad.
The Taji market is a lucrative area for the community's economy. Its monetary importance makes it a place of interest for residents, and simultaneously makes it a target for extremist groups.
The strategic placement of the Hammiyat IP station will perpetuate this vital constant for people in the district of Taji.
"The Taji market is probably the most vibrant market in the Taji area in terms of number of shops and variety of stuff," said Lt. Col. Thomas Mackey, native of San Bernardino, Calif., and battalion commander for the 2nd Battalion, 14th Cavalry Regiment, "Strykerhorse," 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, "Warrior," 25th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad.
Mackey continued to explain that the market is seeing an economic boom, and more than 100 shops have opened in the last eight months. He also expressed the need to maintain security from extremist groups that would try to halt progress.
The area surrounding the market has received little attention as far as governmental services for quite some time. If a problem surfaced, or if a crime needed to be reported, residents were forced to travel to the Taji, Tarmiyah or Mushada IP stations to do so; all of which are located a distance away from the market.
"If you had a police matter, you had to travel down south of the Grand Canal into Taji itself, or go to Mushada or Tarmiyah to the north to the police stations there," Mackey said. "So this station has really given the people of Hammiyat a capability to start addressing problems in the area."
This IP station will aid the area immensely with security, as well as in transitioning the Sons of Iraq (Abna al Iraq) into governmental organizations.
"Increased law enforcement in the area will aid in the fact that IPs won't need to use so many Iraqi army soldiers, or SoI checkpoints," said Capt. Darrell Tran, native of Bridgeport Conn., and commander of Company B, 52nd Inf. Regt., attached to 2nd Bn.,14th Cav. Regt.
"So hopefully this will help the SoI transition to IA, IP, or any other government organization in the area," Tran added.
Like the Taji market, there are other areas in the district of Taji that are void of district security forces. Therefore, coalition forces will continue to work with the government of Iraq and open more IP stations which will enable the IA to fulfill a more traditional roll, rather than being a police force.
"There are plans right now to build more police stations in other areas that have been neglected of government services over the last couple of years," Mackey said. "Hopefully it will get the Iraqi army out of there so that they can focus on other problems and fulfill a more traditional army roll, it's a real win for the area."
As a ribbon was cut, and the IP station was opened, IPs sang and danced with their AK-47s waving in unison to a new tune that will bring order and stability to a region of Iraq that has thirsted for stability for a long time.
| Date Taken: | 09.04.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 09.04.2008 14:10 |
| Story ID: | 23202 |
| Location: | IQ |
| Web Views: | 271 |
| Downloads: | 186 |
This work, Hammiyat Iraq Police Station provides order, stability, by SFC Whitney Houston, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
