Bike cops soon to be new addition to Iraqi Police force
KIRKUK, Iraq — Being a police officer is usually not easy, but soon it may be as easy as riding a bike.
Approximately 30 Iraqi Police attended bicycle police training at the Kirkuk Police Academy Nov. 15, part of the ongoing effort to establish community policing practices in the city.
Many of the police officers had never seen or heard of a bicycle cop before, but soon they themselves will be the first group to begin operating in Kirkuk city.
“I have never seen any riding around Kirkuk,” explained one of the trainees, Adrees Ali Arnoos, a policeman from the Qoria Police Station in Kirkuk. “I am very excited to be part of the first group.
“This is something that could really help the people,” he continued.
The major benefit is it gives the IP an opportunity to be more mobile than a foot officer, and it starts conversations with the locals, because they see something new, said James Olsen, an international police advisor, who served six years as a bicycle cop before coming to Iraq.
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