John Ryan
19 Titan Court, Laporte Way, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU4
8EF.
Telephone: 07767247153, email: johnryan649 [at]
hotmail.com
An insight to being an International Police Adviser –
Leading in a hostile environment.
(John is an Associate Team Adviser with the Work
Foundation and completed a 15 month Foreign Office secondment to Iraq. A
difficult assignment with many moments of great comradeship and
achievement. He would recommend this to anyone serious about leadership
with a sense of purpose, dedication and adventure).
What did your job entail?
My job put simply was to keep my team alive physically
and spiritually in arguably the most dangerous capital in the world –
Baghdad.
I was responsible for the direction, performance and
welfare of twenty five personnel consisting of two serving police
officers. My other staff were retired police officers from a variety of
police forces all hand picked for the difficult and demanding mission
set down by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to develop an effective,
efficient, credible and community supported Iraq Police Service. My team
was effective, committed, highly motivated and safe.
What did you find to be the biggest challenges and
how did you deal with them?
Three challenges were: security, security, and security!
You will be familiar with the media coverage shown in
the UK regarding Baghdad and across Iraq. My role and that of my team
required us to travel into parts of Baghdad and elsewhere in the country
that were very hostile and dangerous. ‘Duck and cover’ was a regular
occurrence to evade incoming rockets and mortars within metres of us.
Once seen never forgotten as they have a customary high pitched whistle
and on impact tend to suck the wind out of you if too close. Lethal
roadside bombs (improvised explosive devices) were also frequent and
movement by road very risky. If that was not enough constant vigilance
was required for small arms and ‘sniper’ rounds.
Did anything surprise you about the role and what,
success if any did you have?
The Police Service in the UK is IT driven, Intelligence
led, subject to scrutiny and has many ways to solve problems. It is also
well funded and partnerships are well established. In Iraq we were
working with non-existent or elementary paper systems, illiteracy,
infiltration and, of course, the real danger that being an Iraqi Police
Officer attracts.
In Iraq we all carried firearms, were required to wear
body armour and helmets according to the circumstances of the day and
undergo regular training to move quickly in/out of vehicles to hard
cover in the event of attack. The heat reaches in excess of 140F.
We established successful, influential partnerships with
the US military, US civilian police trainers, the British military and
other police officers from Italy, Denmark and Canada along with
productive external partnerships. I identified who else was working
in/around the regenerating programme in Baghdad and struck up very
fruitful relationships with the Department for International
Development, The British Council, the World Bank, a number of NGO’s
focussed on human rights abuses, prisons and the media. All had
different but roughly aligned priorities as regards Iraq’s
infrastructure, amenities and utilities. It was typical for Baghdad to
have little more than 2 or 3 hours of power a day and often at different
times of day.
Together, often within a project management framework
but also informally, we identified a number of ‘quick wins’ and I
organised the funding for the provision of books and materials to
schools and libraries. Also the desk top publishing and large print run
of laminated Human Rights awareness posters distributed at many premises
through the NGO network in support of on site presentations.
I encouraged these groups to take more of an interest in
policing on the grounds on the basis that the ‘Rule of Law’, safety and
security are vital to their work. I trained many in policing principles
and mentored the local Police Chief in the benefits of partnership.
I am particularly proud of the initiatives where I
learned who to call on for practical ‘can do’ attitude and motivation to
find the right person placed to progress an issue e.g. on more than one
occasion the vital and timely delivery of clothing and comforts to the
survivors of a bomb damaged orphanage.
We brought into Iraq a number of tried, tested and
reliable UK policing products to assist their capabilities in scenes of
crime, information gathering and dissemination, anti corruption,
training standards and anti hostage and kidnap techniques.
I was privileged to be part of the project that
culminated in the timely opening of the National Forensic Science
Academy, Baghdad Police College by the British Ambassador to Iraq the
Honourable Dominic Asquith CMG and the Iraq Minister of Interior. This
was a critical part of our training strategy. This facility cut down on
the time spent travelling in difficult and dangerous circumstances for
experts eg: scientists and also linked with our other projects on body
recovery and identification.
We were also mentors to the Traffic Police who until our
UK programme took hold would not open the boot of any car they stopped.
Now they do and they find ‘things’ which requires a policing response.
We worked with the River Police who were primarily
concerned with activities on the river Tigress. We were very grateful to
a diving school in West Yorkshire earlier in 2006 for donating diving
kit to them in response to a tragedy in 2005 when a number of people
died having thrown themselves into the Tigress to escape a suspected
suicide bomber.
We identified a dual UK/Iraqi national driving a UK
registered car in Baghdad. It transpired he was being sought by the
German authorities for people smuggling and we arranged for them to take
up the case.
I was keen to and made several contributions of positive
reporting for Iraqi newspapers, Arab wide television and radio on the UK
Civilian Police mission benefits to the local police based at Karadah
Maryam Police District, Baghdad.
A great collateral benefit was the very effective
relationships we built with the local schools, the mosques and an
orphanage. We conducted a number of ‘food runs’ and the delivery of
provisions at times when they were in danger. At all times it was vital
to ensure that the safety and welfare of my personnel was maintained.
I worked up to Iraqi Ministerial level on controversial
issues such as detainees and public office corruption while also
significantly improving standards and the provision at a local level
through proactive external partnerships. Taken together these steps all
went towards the capacity building the UK wanted.
On another level we all learnt a few very basic Arabic
phrases that were very well received by the locals. We took some
photographs and we hoped that Baghdad would one day come back as a
vibrant tourist attraction.
On different dates I presented the Civilian police
mission in Baghdad to Prime Minister Tony Blair, David Cameron and
William Hague - Conservative Party.
In the round we knew our priorities, we were organised
and motivated with roughly the right people in the right place. We
reviewed and checked with the Iraqis that we helping them and from there
on it was a case of me letting them get on with it.
I and colleagues received the Foreign & Commonwealth
Office commendation of merit for leadership and dedication in a hostile
environment and have since been awarded the Iraq Reconstruction Campaign
medal that I hold with three other police medal awards gained in my
police service.
How did your career path lead you to that role?
I retired from the Metropolitan Police Service in 2005
after thirty years very successful service.
I was approached by the FCO having led a previous
training and development mission in Moscow and St Petersburg, Russia and
I had also worked with the FBI and the New York Police Dept after 9/11.
I think my background with the Anti Terrorist branch helped. That said
this role was unique, a real challenge in a place where there was a job
crying out to be done. Whilst the pre selection criteria are testing it
was too good an opportunity to pass up.
If you could have changed any aspect(s) of your job,
what and why?
I was often asked “where is this going, where will it
all end?” The answer is complex and sits with political and diplomatic
action but at the level I was engaged in it we made our success from
trust, beliefs and leadership skills and behaviours. Of course, I wished
the insurgency would stop and allow the local people to make a go of
their lives in a way they wanted to. After three years since the fall of
Saddam Hussein, the former president many people were still without
basic services (water, electric, gas etc) and were deserving of better.
These visible improvements with effective use of resources and wealth in
the communities would see the local police being involved in local
issues leading to mutual confidence and a determination to succeed.
These were the seedlings from which all great Police Services start.
If there is anything else you would like to know about what the
Association is doing to benefit its members please feel free to contact us.
