PC rewarded for work in Iraq

11:41am Tuesday 25th March 2008

A policeman from Sussex has been recognised for his work in Iraq.

Alan Smith, 41, won an Iraq Reconstruction Medal after spending six months training police recruits in Basra.

PC Smith, from Battle, said despite the problems the country has faced he was optimistic for its future.

Speaking five years after the invasion began, PC Smith said: "The experience I had was amazing. The attitude towards us was really good. The younger guys especially really wanted to make a difference."

He volunteered for a six-month spell in Basra, the British-controlled area in the south of the country.

PC Smith said the recruits he taught at the police academy were eager to learn Western-style policing.

He said: "You had quite a few educated people and a lot of people from very diverse farming backgrounds.

"It is quite an accolade for them to become a policeman and take that position in the community. They were like sponges, wanting to soak up stuff we were telling them."

Part of his role was teaching the skills needed for policing in a democracy to recruits who had spent most of their lives in a dictatorship.

PC Smith said: "We were teaching them a variety of subjects - democratic policing styles, human rights, First Aid.

"We taught them how policing over here takes place, everything has to be legal, proportional and justified.

"I think they were benefiting from what we were teaching.

"It is going to take a while to filter through and put in place."

PC Smith also noticed the cultural differences between the UK and Iraq.

He said: "One of the things they had issues with was women being in the police force. That is something that hopefully will change over there.

"It is also a common thing out there that men will walk along holding hands. They like to be close to you when they are talking to you. For a Western person it is quite strange."

He said the experience meant he was better equipped for modern policing when he returned home.

The most striking memory of his spell in Iraq, which ended in December 2006, is of the reaction of his class of recruits, which he taught with the aid of an interpreter.

He said: "After their training and at the end of each day they would always thank you.

"They were always positive.

"They were really nice people and I got on fabulously with them."

PC Smith was decorated at a Sussex Police awards ceremony last week.

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