Thursday, March 07, 2013

U.S. Assistance to the Internal Security Forces

March 6, 2013

Fact Sheet

Since 2006, the United States has provided over $100 million to the Internal Security Forces (ISF) through various assistance programs that provide training, facility upgrades and construction, vehicles, and equipment. This assistance is coordinated by the Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) and is part of U.S. efforts to support the development of the ISF into a modern professional police force that is capable ensuring Lebanon's security and stability while serving and protecting all of Lebanon's citizens.
One key component of U.S. assistance to the ISF is the Aramoun Training Academy. This $9.7 million program will provide modern facilities and policing and investigative techniques through a tactical training village, a forensics investigative laboratory and classrooms, a shooting range, and a vehicle maintenance facility.
The tactical training facility will provide a realistic urban setting for training for officers and recruits of the Internal Security Forces. The complex will include replicated schools, checkpoints, residential and commercial buildings to provide hands on, scenario-based training to teach investigative techniques, firearms skills, and modern police tactics. Scenarios will include: investigations, domestic incidents, planning and making arrests, processing evidence at crime scenes, conducting interviews and searches, and clearing areas and buildings so they are safe to enter. The vehicle maintenance facility will provide long-term maintenance and repair for the ISF's vehicle fleet, including over 500 patrol cars and specialty vehicles provided through U.S. assistance.
In addition, the United States through its Civilian Police (CIVPOL) mission has provided American instructors and trained over 9,100 cadets and in-service trainees, including 610 female cadets, in the following courses: basic cadet, supervisor, basic instructor, in-service training, and community policing. Basic cadet training teaches policing principles and concepts in order to familiarize new cadets with the concept of civilian policing and with the roles they will play in a larger police force. In July 2012, following the completion of a "train the trainer" course, the CIVPOL mission fully transferred to the ISF's cadre of police training professionals.
The shared goal of the U.S. assistance program is to produce a police force that is publicly trusted, professionally trained, uses professional policing principles, and respects human rights. Such a force is better capable of protecting the people of Lebanon and ensuring the country's security and stability.

The United States is committed to enhancing the ISF's capacity through the use of modern policing techniques and methods, specialized equipment, and enhanced mobility and deployment capabilities. Over the past three years, the United States has provided over 500 police vehicles, prisoner transport buses to assist with alleviating overcrowding at Roumieh prison, as well as the refurbishment of armored personnel carriers. In 2012, the United States provided $28 million in assistance to the ISF, including construction of the Aramoun Training Academy, the establishment of a nationwide secure radio program to help dispatch ISF officers quickly in emergencies, and assistance with equipment purchases and training programs for dozens of ISF units.