HERAT, Afghanistan - Two hundred twenty-eight police recruits completed an arduous 14-week police training program at Herat's Regional Training Center, March 31, becoming the latest graduates of the elite Afghan National Civil Order Police (ANCOP).
The graduation ceremony, attended by Provincial Council members and police commanders from across the region, marked the fourth ANCOP graduating class and the first class to graduate from the newly built $4.2 million training facility.
ANCOP, formed in 2006, is a special police unit of the Afghan National Police and is chiefly responsible for providing civil order presence patrols, preventing violent public incidents, and providing crisis and anti-terror response in local villages and cities.
"The recruits have proven they have the physical, mental, moral aptitude and commitment to building a stronger and safer Afghanistan, said Maj. Rachelle M. Martinez, national police support operations officer for Regional Support Command - West. "By joining ANCOP, they've volunteered to undertake one of the toughest and most demanding jobs in law enforcement."
ANCOP plays a vital role as the police paramilitary arm the Afghan National Security Forces and is similar to the American Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams and special operations police units found in Europe.
"Besides their extensive training, what makes ANCOP stand apart is that they are deployable type units, capable of moving about the country to areas where there is typically not a police presence," Martinez said.
Before joining ANCOP, recruits must first meet written and spoken language comprehension standards in Dari and Pashtu; both are considered official languages in Afghanistan and used for nearly all business and government transactions.
Recruits needing additional language training receive 4 weeks of high intensity reading and writing instruction prior to continuing on to the ANCOP 14-week training course.
The basic course teaches the fundamentals of law enforcement, expanding into areas of Afghan constitutional law, penal and criminal procedure codes, and international human rights.
"The training yields a professional police force with a strong sense of respect for the law and individual rights," said Col. William W. McQuade, legal advisor for the Afghan National Army's 207th Corps. "This is critical in building support and respect for ANCOP forces by the Afghan population."
After basic training, the recruits receive an additional six weeks of advanced schooling in terrorist tactics, police survival skills, surveillance detection and intelligence gathering.
The Civil Order Police play a significant role in maintaining the security of villages throughout Afghanistan's boarder regions and metropolitan areas, and are a key component in President Hamid Karzai's recently announced security transition plan, in which primary responsibility for the nation's security will increasingly shift from coalition forces to the men and women of the Afghan National Security Forces.
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