Tucked away in a palm grove, surrounded by a canal lined with long reeds, a training facility, consisting of multiple buildings at the edge of a military base, offers a place where Iraqi police can take a break from the demanding Baghdad streets to learn skills that they intend to use to make their city more secure.

The Criminal Justice Center on Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq is a training center for Iraqi police where they are taught police skills that build upon what they learned during their basic training and what they learned as experienced police officers working on the streets of Baghdad. At the CJC, Iraqi police take a three week course that consists of classes on democratic policing, crime scene preservation and evidence collection, human rights, non-abusive compliance techniques, election security tactics, counter improvised explosive device training, fundamentals of Iraqi Law and many other classes that go beyond the skills learned during their basic training at an Iraqi Police Academy.

The curriculum at the CJC is approved by Iraq's Ministry of Interior and Baghdad's Provincial Department of Police. The Iraqi Highway Patrol department operating in Baghdad also approves the curriculum before they send any of their officers to the three week course. "All the training conducted at our facility is approved by the law enforcement departments that send their officers to train with us. We do not do anything without the approval of Iraq's Ministry of Interior," said Capt. David Worthy, Company Commander of the 217th Military Police Company, the National Guard unit from Prattville, Ala., that operates the CJC.

Since the Security Agreement between the United States and Iraq was implemented in early 2009, the relationship between the U.S. Military Police and the Iraqi police is one of partnership. The Army's military police can no longer dictate the training of Iraqi police. "If the Iraqi police commanders do not approve of the training, we change it to suit the needs of their police force," said Worthy.

Iraqi police commanders and their superiors at the Ministry of Interior seem to approve of the training that the 217th is providing, because they are consistently sending dozens of their police officers to the CJC. Furthermore, the Iraqi police participating in the training believe they are learning a lot. "This course is excellent. We learn things that we never thought of. In this course, I'm developing myself; and when I'm done, I will help my fellow Iraqi police at my station," said Hatam Al albdi, a Baghdad police officer.

There are not only Iraqi police students at the CJC, there are also Iraqi police instructors. Under the tutelage of military policemen and International Police Advisors, Saad Jibar Farhan, an Iraqi highway patrolman, teaches a variety of classes at the CJC to his fellow Iraqi law enforcement officers. He believes the CJC training achieves the goal of teaching Iraqi police officers advanced policing methods and allows him the opportunity to develop his abilities as an instructor. "Our police officers learn advanced techniques here and they allow me to teach courses that are not usually taught at the stations." For Farhan, the instruction at the CJC adds to what the Iraqi police learn from performing their daily duties and responsibilities on the Baghdad streets. "They have a lot of experience, but they need instruction on how to do things right. We learn a lot here and we take the time to learn it right," said Farhan.

Worthy would like to see more Iraqi police instructors training Iraqi police at the CJC and the police trained at the CJC return to their stations to train additional Iraqi police. "We are successful, as long as we provide a place where Iraqi police can develop as police officers and they take what they learn here back to their stations to share with their fellow officers," said Worthy.

Worthy said that the CJC has the potential of becoming an Iraqi Police Academy with its own commandant, administrators and instructors. "It's possible that when we leave, the CJC will be a training facility operated by the Iraqi police, except for a few American liaison officers advising and assisting," said Worthy.

Farhan is looking forward to continuing his position as an Iraqi police instructor. "I would like to work here for a long time. I like teaching Iraqi police. We understand each other, because we do the same job and we speak the same language," said Farhan.