ISAF Joint Command - Afghanistan
2010-12-D-074
For Immediate Release
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KABUL, Afghanistan (Dec. 6, 2010) – Helmand Police Training Center, the partnered training institution for the Afghan National Police, celebrated its first birthday Dec. 5.

The center, just outside provincial capital Lashkar Gah, was established last year to provide a formalized training course for Afghan National Police to raise the standard of policing across the troubled province of Helmand in southern Afghanistan.

To date, the training center has trained a total of 1,593 policemen and 160 junior commanders, while a further 488 are currently in training. The milestone of the 2,000th recruit is set to be achieved on Dec. 29.

Increasingly, police in Helmand are taking responsibility for security in the urban areas within the districts of Nad ‘Ali and Nahr-e Saraj. The ANP have already taken over most security within Helmand’s main cities of Lashkar Gah and Gereshk.

Helmand Police Training Center is run by soldiers from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 5th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland who are currently deployed to Afghanistan to train and mentor Afghan police. They are supported by United Kingdom Ministry of Defence Police and Afghan instructors.

“We and our Afghan partners at Helmand Police Training Center are providing the future for Helmand” said Maj. Jake McKay, the 5 SCOTS officer in charge of training at the center. We are trying to bring about institutional development in the ANP, giving them the tools to protect themselves and the people of Helmand, and to focus on their task of providing community policing in Helmand’s towns and cities.”

Despite the progress of its first 12 months, greater things are planned for Helmand Police Training Center. Next year it will become the Helmand Police Academy with space for a further 250 police recruits. Already, more and more courses are run by specialists from 5 SCOTS teaching counter-IED tactics, accounting skills, command and control protocols for headquarters elements, officer training, and training for quick response units.