Crimestoppers - Iraqi-style
Updated on 22 September 2006
Grassing is a booming pastime in post-war Iraq.
It may come as a surprise but there is one part of the security work in Iraq which is blossoming - the Crime-stoppers hotline.
Bill Kearney, who has managed the training of Iraqi police for the past two and a half years, says hundreds of people are using the phone lines to inform on others.
He said: "It has proved really popular. We get calls from people saying there is a crate of arms in a particular location - things like that.
"There has been a huge amount of information coming in. Not every Iraqi is an insurgent."
Mr Kearney works for the ArmorGroup, a company which has been paid £12,448,516 in the past three years by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to train and advise the new Iraqi police force.
Details of how much the company had been paid for its work were released following a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by Channel 4 News online.
The amount ballooned from £3,700,172 in 2004/5, to £8,417,242 in 2005/6.
Mr Kearney believes the costs are justified for the work which was carried out.
He said: "When we started there would be situations where we would find 12-year-olds locked up with adults in police cells.
"That meant there were instances of sexual abuse and physical abuse.
"We've helped stop that, and introduce new initiatives such as community policing."
Mr Kearney's initial work focused around establishing police bases in Maysan province and Basra.
ArmorGroup had about 40 staff on the ground to work with the police from June, 2004.
Mr Kearney said: "The main thing we do is to train the Iraqi police in order that they can eventually teach themselves."
Most of the staff used by ArmorGroup for this type of work are from a police background.
