Saturday, December 08, 2007

The Watering Hole

The Watering Hole is police slang for a location cops go off-duty to blow off steam and talk about work and life. Sometimes funny; Sometimes serious; but, always poignant. During the first half-hour of the show, the host, a nationally recognized expert on law enforcement, interviews a subject matter expert on the topic. During the second half-hour the program is joined by two other cops who give a street-level perspective to the conversation.

Listen, call, join us at the Watering Hole.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LawEnforcement

Gates to Address Gulf Regional Security at Manama Dialogue

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

Dec. 7, 2007 - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates will encourage closer cooperation to promote security in the Persian Gulf region at the fourth annual Manama Dialogue, which opens here tonight. The three-day summit, sponsored by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, brings together about 200 defense ministers and senior officials from 23 countries to discuss major security issues in the region.

Navy Adm. William J. Fallon, commander of U.S. Central Command, also will participate as a member of the U.S. delegation.

"We will be covering the full range of security issues," Gates told reporters traveling with him yesterday.

The secretary is expected to reinforce the longstanding U.S. commitment to the region during his speech at tomorrow's first plenary session on the United States and the balance of power in the region.

"I think the secretary's message is going to be that there are a lot of shared threats in the region, ... that the Gulf and the region is and remains a vital, strategic U.S. interest, and the U.S. will remain in the region," a senior defense official said.

"We have been here for decades," she told reporters on background. "You can pretty well count on us remaining here for decades to come."

Gates told reporters he expects discussions about Iran and its activities to be part of the discussions. "Iranian behavior in a number of areas will clearly come up during the conversations here," he said.

The secretary said he does not expect to have any direct interaction with Iranian officials during the sessions. It remains unclear whether Tehran will send delegates, U.S. officials said.

A senior
military official told reporters many regional countries share a common concern about Iran, which they described as "the want-to-be big dog in this area."

The countries' wariness centers on "the shadow of Iran" as it expands its influence and "the increasingly outward, bellicose monologue that emanates from Tehran," he said.

But a bigger problem is that Iran's activities are consistently in line with its rhetoric, the official said. He referred to a series of incidents since he took command of CENTCOM, including Iran's delivery of weapons and other support into Iraq and Afghanistan and the detention of British sailors earlier this year.

"Everything they've done publicly has been a problem," he said. "Their behavior has really been a problem, and to the extent that it destabilizes the region, which it does, then it becomes a problem for us."

As Gates addresses Iran and other common threats during the Manama Dialogue, he's expected to emphasize that current U.S. activities in Iraq don't diminish U.S. commitments elsewhere in the region, a senior defense official said.

Similarly, the troop drawdown in Iraq doesn't signal any lessening of U.S. interest or commitment to the region, but rather, an opportunity to form stronger ties, she said. "One shouldn't view a diminution of troops in Iraq as anything other than a good-news story to the extent that the situation there allows that to develop.

"I think we will build upon that and say, 'We have a shared interest here, a shared commercial interest, a shared security interest," she said. "And the more we cooperate, the more the world will benefit."

A senior
military official called the simple act of agreeing to work together "a terrific step" toward this goal. "And then, if you decide you want to work together, then figuring out how you can communicate with one another, that would be wonderful," he said.

Closer cooperation is key to regional countries' ability to collectively face common threats and promote common interests, he said. "If they can find ways to work together, then we all benefit. They benefit, and after awhile, they are going to see the positives."

365 Police Departments

Editor's Note: One of the authors is a former servicemember.

December 7, 2007, (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists over 800 state and local police officers who have written books. With the addition of
Robert Ernst, Bryan Heger and Paul Anthony, the website now lists state and local police officers from 365 agencies.

Robert R. Ernst, a former deputy sheriff with the Saginaw County Sheriff’s Office (Michigan). He is the author of Deadly Affrays. According to the book description, “The United States Marshals became the first federal law enforcement organization when President George Washington signed into law the Judiciary Act on September 24, 1789. The U.S. Marshals have lost more personnel to violence than any other federal law enforcement agency. Robert Forsyth, one of the original thirteen appointees, was the first Marshal killed in the line of duty when he was shot to death while attempting to serve civil papers on a Baptist minister in Georgia. Since Forsyth’s death, at least 287 additional officers have met violent deaths in almost every imaginable way. These are the stories of those men who were serving their country enforcing the law-- until they became involved in Deadly Affrays.”

Bryan Heger was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He was raised on a small, family owned farm south of Baltimore City called Hanover. After graduating from Arundel Senior High School, he went to work for the Anne Arundel County Police Department where, after twenty-six years, the last thirteen as a sergeant, he received a medical retirement. He and his boys now live in Pasadena, Maryland. Both of the boys attend local schools, and the author works as a full-time dad. He is the author of Me and the Boys: A Man's Guide to Single Parenthood.

According to the description of Me and the Boys: A Man's Guide to Single Parenthood, “Imagine yourself a twenty-six veteran police officer with a file full of commendations. Fully half your career was as a sergeant responsible for a number of young officers under your command. You put in your time on the street. You paid your dues. You’re still young and good at your job, a nice home, two great young boys and a wife...and then”

Paul L. Anthony, EMS (Equity Marketing Specialist) is a well established entrepreneur in Pueblo, Colorado. He is the owner/operator of Anthony Enterprises. With the mettle to be a U.S. Marine, Paul Anthony learned the doctrines of Semper Fidelis; do or die; don't ever give up; etc. As he traveled in Far Eastern countries in the Marine Corps, Paul Anthony studied their philosophies and acquired master level skills in Judo, Karate, and Aikido; which he subsequently taught for 14 years.

Upon returning to Southern California,
Paul Anthony became a police officer with the Anaheim Police Department and in 1964 was selected the Officer of the Year of the Anaheim Police Department. During his law enforcement career, Paul Anthony has served as Police Science Director at Mira Costa College for 9 years and as a training consultant for the International Association of Chiefs of Police for 5 years. As a law enforcement trainer, Paul Anthony trained over 2,000 Vietnam War Veterans who are now highly qualified police officers across the country.

Along the way,
Paul Anthony attended four community colleges and seven universities in four states. He has earned teaching credentials in martial arts, criminology, vocational education, and real estate. Paul Anthony has Community College Administrator credential from the state of California. Anthony is the author of Secret of Success.

According to the editor of Secret of Success, TJ Ramos, “Enjoy entertaining insights that encourage the reader toward success by thinking differently from what's expected. Not just another 'motivational' blurb, not another 'how to get rich quick' guide... this lively trip into basic human nature shows how to understand what people mean, despite what they say!”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 808
police officers (representing 365 police departments) and their 1719 law enforcement books in six categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.

Gates Appraises Maritime Contribution to Gulf Region Security

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

Dec. 7, 2007 - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today commemorated a historic date in
U.S. Navy history -- Pearl Harbor Day -- at U.S. Naval Forces Central Command headquarters here. He got a detailed briefing about the command's operations and how they're helping to maintain security and keep the sea lanes flowing.

Vice Adm. Kevin J. Cosgriff, commander of NAVCENT Combined Maritime Forces and U.S. 5th Fleet, briefed the secretary on the command's operations, which cover 2.5 million square miles of international waters in U.S. Central Command's area of operations.

Each day, more than 10,000 vessels transit the territory, which includes about 80 percent of the global energy reserves. About 45 percent of the world's oil passes through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Keeping these regional waterways open and safe is the heart of the NAVCENT mission and the focus of Gates' briefing here, senior officials told reporters. It's a mission they said has not only regional, but also international implications, particularly in light of Iran's stated threat to close the Strait of Hormuz -- the entrance to the Persian Gulf -- and the huge setback a terrorist attack on Iraq's offshore oil platforms would pose to the country's economy.

Cosgriff described how U.S. naval forces here partner with ships from the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Germany, Italy and Pakistan to preserve unfettered use of the waterways and deny them to
terrorists.

"No one nation can do this on their own," a senior Coalition Force Maritime Component official told reporters traveling with the secretary. "It's a collaborative effort."

These maritime security operations ensure the security of Iraq's two offshore oil platforms, which provide as much as 85 to 90 percent of the country's gross domestic product, the official explained. In addition to conducting regular patrols to ensure al Qaeda doesn't get the opportunity to target the platforms, NAVCENT is training the Iraqi navy to build its own defense capabilities.

Of particular concern is Iran, a growing threat to the region that's building its
navy and Revolutionary Guard to become more capable forces. "I wake up thinking about Iran. I go to bed thinking about Iran," another senior official said.

One of the greatest threats Iran's naval forces could pose would be to follow through on the country's threat to close the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping. A senior official here told reporters it's unlikely Iran would attempt such a measure any time soon, but that the rhetoric alone has a destabilizing effect.

"It's coercive, intended to intimidate the global market," he said. "I just don't think it's responsible behavior."

The official had similar views about an incident earlier this year when Iranian forces seized 15 British sailors during a routine search operation in the Persian Gulf's Shatt al Arab waterway. "You don't detain somebody in the international waters of your neighbor," an official said, calling it "an illegal act."

While recognizing the importance of checking Iranian aggression, a senior official emphasized that the coalition operating here "is not about Iran," but rather the broader security interests of the region. "The collaborative nature of what we do, from a coalition perspective, I see as enduring," he said.

As NAVCENT forces ensure security of the waterways, they're expanding in two additional areas: humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

In one recent example, USS Kearsarge, an amphibious assault ship that was operating here, rushed from the region to provided humanitarian relief in Bangladesh following a devastating late-November cyclone. Kearsarge and its crew are now making the 3,000-mile return trip here.

These types of missions provide desperately needed assistance and go a long way in helping "de-demonize the West" in the eyes of the world, the official said.

The mission falls directly in line with the U.S. chief of naval operations' new cooperative sea power strategy, released in October, that emphasizes binding all U.S. maritime services more closely to advance America's prosperity and security through both
military and non-military means.

"Having credible combat power forward and concentrating it in the regions where the U.S. has enduring vital interest is at the heart of our new strategy," an official said today. "And at the heart of that is, it's far better to prevent a war than fight one."

Before attending today's briefing, Gates took time in front of the NAVCENT headquarters to present a Joint Service Commendation Medal to
Marine Gunnery Sgt. Dennis Malin, a 17-year Marine who has served in the defense attache's office at the U.S. Embassy here for about five years.

"It's awesome. It's great," Malin said of receiving his award from the defense secretary. "This is fantastic."

"I'm so happy for him. He works so hard," Malin's wife, Megan, said before posing for photos with her husband and Gates following the short ceremony.