U.S.-Trained ISF Officers Graduate

On December 16, 2011, the joint U.S. and Internal Security Forces Community Policing training program held a graduation for over 100 ISF officers. The Community Policing program is an eight-week training course taught by U.S. and Lebanese police instructors with the assistance of legal professionals.
ISF officers learn the latest policing, law enforcement, and community relations skills and how to implement them effectively in real situations.
U.S. Embassy Director of the International Law Enforcement Programs Office, Vincent Carver, spoke at the ceremony and congratulated the graduates. Mr. Carver underscored the community policing model, which promotes the development of partnerships between law enforcement and the Lebanese people and institutions they serve in order to increase trust and confidence in the police and address the underlying causes of crime by developing solutions to problems facing the community at large.
The United States' $132 million multi-year law enforcement assistance program in Lebanon is designed to support reform in the Lebanese law enforcement sector by strengthening the capacity of the Internal Security Forces to enforce the rule of law in Lebanon and to protect the Lebanese people. A professional and responsive police force also strengthens Lebanon's sovereignty, independence and stability.
The U.S. assistance program strengthens the ISF and is part of the overall U.S. security assistance program to Lebanon. Since 2008, U.S. instruction teams have trained over 7600 ISF members.