The Facilities Protection Service is an Iraqi

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

force tasked with the fixed site protection of Iraqi Government buildings, facilities, and personnel. The FPS includes Oil, Electricity Police and Port Security. It works for all Iraqi government ministries and governmental agencies, but its standards are set and enforced by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior. It can also be hired to protect private property. As of 2005, the Coalition no longer provides material or logistical support to the FPS.Measuring Security and Stability in Iraq, November 2006
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Organization

The FPS consists of more than 150,000 Facility Protection Service personnel and over 26,000 contract security guards who work for 26 ministries, eight independent directorates and the

Central Bank of Iraq The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) ( ar, البنك المركزي العراقي) is the central bank of Iraq. It was established in 1947, the same year in which the British occupation of Iraq was ended. CBI's primary objectives are to ensure domestic ...

. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some of them are unreliable and responsible for violent crimes. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has announced a reform to consolidate all Facilities Protection Service personnel into a unified organization responsible to the Ministry of Interior. These act in two capacities: as

security guard A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) from a variety ...

s at government buildings and as Personal Security Details to protect important government officials. This number includes approximately 2,200 Diplomatic Protection Service (DPS) guards charged with protecting foreign embassies in Iraq. There are an estimated 17,800 FPS personnel who working for the MOI. Half of them work in Baghdad. The MOI's FPS has established better regulation, training, and discipline than have FPS staff in other ministries, and a higher proportion of them, possibly half, have completed the Facility Protection Service basic training course. The majority of the FPS staff consists of former Iraqi military personnel and former security guards. The FPS will now secure public facilities such as hospitals, banks, and power stations within their district. Once trained, the guards work with

US military The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six Military branch, service branches: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States N ...

and coalition forces protecting critical sites like schools, hospitals and power plants. Being part of the

Baath Party The Arab Socialist Baʿath Party ( ar, حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي ' ) was a political party founded in Syria by Mishel ʿAflaq, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Bītār, and associates of Zaki al-ʾArsūzī. The party espoused B ...

is not disqualifier on joining the Facility Protection Service or working elsewhere with coalition forces. The FPS are paid on either on a contract basis or according to a civil pay scale which is lower than that of the Police or the New Iraqi Army. The starting salary of an FPS guard is 83,000ID ($56) per month and FPS guards receive an additional 96,000ID ($64) per month in hazardous duty pay.

Reorganization

The Iraqi government has created a national headquarters for the FPS, began to codify the relationships among the different ministries' FPS forces, and standardized the uniforms and vehicle markings, recruiting, training, terms and conditions of service, and responsibilities. Eight reviewing committees were established to assess the current status of the organization and to make recommendations for future change.

Uniforms and equipment

FPS uniforms consists of light grey shirts with dark blue pants, a leather belt, and a grey beret. They wear brassards which bear the letters 'FPS' under the Iraqi flag. They are armed with

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...

's, PKMs, Glock 19 pistols, individual body armor, high-frequency radios, small and medium pick-up trucks, and mid-sized SUVs. The FPS' vehicles are provided by the various government agencies or private organizations.

Issues

Allegations were made by Ellen Knickmeyer of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

''Foreign Service on Saturday, October 14, 2006; that the FPS was behind

Death Squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are f ...

operating in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

, he also has repeatedly suggested that killings by gunmen in police uniforms were being carried out by impostors to discredit the government. Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily allege that th
Iraqi Militias Take Refuge in Facilities Protection Service
They state that former Iraqi army General Harith al-Fahad claims that the FPS basically consists of the various militias who are padding the payroll of the FPS.

References

CPAORD_27_Establishment_of_the_Facilities_Protection_Svc

External links

* Deflem, Mathieu, and Suzanne Sutphin. 2006

Sociological Focus 39(4)265-283.
Iraqi police deaths 'hit 12,000'
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080514025618/http://www.usip.org/pubs/usipeace_briefings/2007/0207_iraqi_interior_ministry.html IRAQ STUDY GROUP REPORTbr>FPS at Brussels Tribunal
{{Asia topic, Military of, title=Militaries of Asia Law enforcement in Iraq Paramilitary forces of Iraq