Richland sheriff enthusiastic about Kurdistan
By SAMMY FRETWELL – sfretwell@thestate.com
Monday, Aug. 09, 2010
Leon Lott wasn’t sure what to expect when his airplane landed in northern Iraq last month.
Would the Richland County sheriff see bombed-out buildings and violence in the streets? Would the local people view him with mistrust?
The answer he got was an emphatic “No.’’
A career law enforcement officer, Lott spent five days in Kurdistan in late July teaching local police about American criminal justice efforts. His trip to Kurdistan – Iraq’s semiautonomous northern region – impressed and inspired him. After years of violence, Kurdistan is on the rebound and full of people grateful for the American war effort, he said.
While on the trip, Lott met with a regional governor and top Kurdish police commanders, as well as rank-and-file officers.
“It was one of the highlights of my career, to go over there and see what happened and also know that you could make a difference,” Lott said. “They were so receptive to what we do, to learn from us. There was never any of this ‘We know how to do it. … You Americans don’t come tell us how to do things.’ It was totally the opposite.”
That surprised Lott, he said, because international stories typically show dissension and violence near Baghdad and other cities, many in central and southern Iraq.
But Kurdistan is a region of northern Iraq known for its independent spirit and resistance to dictator Saddam Hussein. Hussein’s forces killed tens of thousands of Kurds during his 24-year reign, including as many as 5,000 from a poison gas attack in 1988.
The Kurdish resistance, however, continued, and today, with Hussein dead, Kurdistan’s regional government is working to modernize and improve living conditions, Lott said.
While there, Lott said he saw substantial construction projects under way and a relatively stable environment. Never once did he feel endangered. He compared Irbil, the primary city he visited, to metropolitan Columbia, but with busier city streets.
And everywhere he went, people thanked him for the American war effort in Iraq, including one elderly man who showed Lott’s delegation a cave where people hid from Saddam’s forces. The cavern contained a spring and plenty of room for the old man and his friends.
“He kept telling us through an interpreter, ‘Thank you; you have given us our freedom,’” Lott said.
Lott, elected Richland County sheriff in 1996, got the chance to visit and teach local police after a U.S. security consultant told Kurdish law enforcement officials about him. The friend, a former Richland County deputy named Danny Kirkland, was working as a U.S. security contractor with the local Kurdish police college.
Kirkland, who lives in Calhoun County, told criminal justice authorities that Lott put a premium on training Richland County deputies and he could help with the Kurds. After some persuasion by Kirkland, Lott agreed to visit Kurdistan with Capt. Roxanne Meetze. The Kurdish government paid for the trip and stay.
Their primary mission in Kurdistan was answering questions and teaching female police about American law enforcement techniques. Having women work alongside men in police work — with equal responsibilities — is a relatively new concept in a region where women historically have not been viewed as men’s equals.
When Lott and Meetze walked into the training room for a session with female police recruits, “the girls were sitting there, kind of stoic-like’’ Kirkland said. “By the end of the presentation, they were laughing, and their eyes were full of fire. They said ‘I can do this, too.’”
Lott and Meetze also discussed how Richland County deals with women who are the victims of domestic violence — a problem that is more pronounced in Iraq, the sheriff said. They explained how Richland deputies document injuries in domestic violence cases and how they help victims find shelter.
Lott’s trip was greeted with fanfare in Kurdistan. The region’s English language newspaper, The Kurdish Globe, wrote a story July 24 about the visit, and local officials held ceremonies to welcome the Richland County delegation.
Women’s victim advocates were equally pleased with the visit. Kurda Omar, who heads the General Directorate to Trace Violence Against Women in Kurdistan, said she wants Kurdish police to visit the U.S. to learn more about the American police response to domestic violence, the Globe reported. Her group released a report while Lott was there, citing hundreds of examples of violence against Kurdish women – often at the hands of husbands or relatives, the newspaper reported.
Lott said he plans to host a Kurdish police delegation sometime in the next year.
Reflecting on the trip this week from his northeast Columbia office, Lott said he and Meetze not only taught Kurdish police, but they also learned from the experience. He was particularly impressed with the Kurds’ dedication and with the physical training methods they use for police officers.
“I thought we did good here at Richland County on training; they did even more,” he said. “We can do a better job.”
Reach Fretwell at 771-8537
Read more: http://www.thestate.com/2010/08/09/1409822/richland-sheriff-enthusiastic.html#ixzz0wssmMgkE
