To wear a mask or not to wear a mask- Iraqi police conundrum

Adwar, Iraq-

Here in Saddam's old town police are everywhere. Checkpoints are set up at traffic circles and they ride around in distinctive white and blue pick ups with machine guns mounted on the back. But you don't see many walking through the community, and many are wearing masks, which doesn't seem to make sense.

At the Adwar Iraqi Police station, Staff Sgt. Virgil Langford, a reserve MP from Lake City, FL had that problem.

Langford asked the station's commander- Lieutenant Colonel Samir why one of Samir's men insisted on wearing a mask while he was out on city patrol with Lanford's team of 320th MPs from St. Petersburg, FL. Apparently the officer refused to go on patrol in his own neighborhood without wearing a mask.

"That's the thing," Lanford said, "police need to be seen, so people recognize to go to him as police."

The lieutenant colonel nodded politely.

(Staff Sgt. Langford talks to Lt. Col Samir in his office.)

"In the U.S. police aren't allowed to wear masks," said police advisor, Jeremy Austin, 33, of Rogers, AR, entering the conversation. "When the officer wears a mask it creates a barrier. It also scares people in the community because police shouldn't be afraid."

The Lt. Col. nodded his head again. All Iraqis wear masks, he said, even the terrorists.

This comment provided a knowing look from Austin. "But if IPs (Iraqi Police) wear a mask and terrorists wear a mask how are we to tell them apart?"

"But the IPs wear a uniform," the Lt. Col. retorted.

"What if the terrorists got a hold of police uniforms?"

"The IPs coming from Tikrit for the mission wore masks," the Lt. Col. said.

"When we have a big mission then it's ok to wear a mask," Langford said, "not when patrolling your own streets."

"We (Police Training Teams) are trying to get IPs across Iraq to take off their masks," Austin said, "so they'll be a part of the community and the community will tell them where the bad guys are so they won't have to wear a mask."

Lt. Col. Sammir seemed to agree, but there was no sense that anything would change immediately. He then moved on to asking about more fuel for his police patrols and a tire on his truck that needed to be fixed.

Staff Sgt. Langford promised to help if he submitted the paper work. More of the same give and take in Iraq. "You need to have a solution, or they don't listen to your problem," said Austin, who's been an officer for seven years and training the IP in Iraq for six months.

The police like other institutions suffer from a lack of supplies and are slowed by cultural norms that lie just below the surface. The MPs and PTT teams control the distribution of salaries to Iraqi police officers in their district as a way to root out "ghost" police contracts, but they don't have full visibility, and with the language barriers, probably never will.

Not that things aren't improving. The now peaceful village of Abu Dalaf a few miles from Adwar, had its police station entirely destroyed by a vehicle-born IED a few rotations back. Now the police major even had the time to hand paint the top of the town's mosque.

As for the mask problem, Sgt. Langford, who's an officer in Lake City said, "They're afraid to be seen with the coalition. Bad guys will see their face and kill them or threaten their family."

"Back in the states you don't have to worry about guys coming to kill their families," Austin added, "but if these guys were proactive as officers it wouldn't happen."

Sergeant Brett Livingston, 27, of the 320th MPs said that an Iraqi Police major asked him if he would take off his body armor and leave his rifle to walk around the streets of a nearby apartment community of Mujama with him.

Think what it would mean to the community, the major told Livingston. You would be wearing the same as I wear. Livingston thought it was a good idea, of course his higher command did not and prohibited it.

But the point is the wearing of "masks" goes both ways. U.S. soldiers practically look like armored robots in all their gear.

Livingston said the MPs who are almost all cops back in the states, understand their job is at least 50 percent counselor and community outreach. But this isn't their community.

They then realized that instead of giving candy to kids in the streets, they should give the candy to the Iraqi Police to give to the kids.

You should have seen the smiles, Livingston said.

Of the kids?

No, of the Iraqi Policemen after they gave it out.