Bay cop off to Iraq hotspot

By Rachel Tiffen
High-profile Tauranga community constable Brett Amos has been hired by the British government to train police officers in dangerous war-torn Iraq.
The veteran community liaison officer is heading to Basra in southern Iraq to teach and mentor the country's beleaguered police force as a foreign commonwealth officer.
The job will be dangerous - Iraqi police have been repeatedly targeted by insurgent groups and are frequently killed. In public, he will be armed, wear a bullet-proof vest and be escorted by soldiers.
Mr Amos has quit the New Zealand police force and will work nine weeks in Basra, then have three weeks off back home, on a six-monthly renewable contract.
His wages include food and accommodation and the job is paid comfortably - but nothing like many people probably imagined, he said.
"I'll be working for the Commonwealth, not a private security firm or something like that," he told the Bay of Plenty Times.
Money, he said, was not a factor.
"I'd do it for nothing. No amount of money could make you risk your life if you didn't want to anyway," he said.
"In the past couple of weeks I've been looking at the sea and other things around here and thinking 'ohhhh I'm going to miss that'," said the avid diver and fisherman, who also surfs "badly".
Mr Amos has put 12 1/2 years into community policing in Tauranga but has had itchy feet and an unshakeable urge to give help where it was badly needed since a six-month stint restoring law and order in the Solomon Islands in 2004.
The affable officer - affectionately dubbed "Clouseau" by colleagues after the accident-prone Pink Panther character - made quite an impression with the islanders. He was known as the "white giant" and was so highly regarded they pushed to make him a chief and offered him a home.
Mr Amos saw the Middle Eastern position as another chance to make a difference.
"It's about having the opportunity to be part of the re-building of a country, which is kind of cool," he said in typically understated manner.
He admitted the element of the unknown in trouble-ridden Iraq added to the attraction and challenge. And while his job brief reads "training and mentoring" - involving everything from self defence, finger printing and communication skills, to interviewing - the specifics of living quarters, hours and other facets of daily life remain a mystery.
"It's pretty basic I think ... Just port-a-loos and things," he said, shrugging.
Mr Amos is no stranger to roughing it.
In fact, he prefers to stay off the beaten track and seek out the "real people".
And if there's one word to aptly describe Iraq - it's real.
From his tidy little office on Devonport Rd, Mr Amos played a music-backed computer montage of photos from Basra. The monitor flashed as a flaming explosion rocked a dusty Iraqi street, catapulting debris everywhere. Next came a dramatic image of an army compound encased by menacing rolled barbed-wire, followed by stern-looking police officers marching and waving the national flag.
Mr Amos said he would wear similar clothes - a short-sleeved light blue shirt and tan pants, along with custom-made sand goggles and often a heavy-duty helmet. A bullet-proof vest would not leave his chest, nor would he leave the compound unarmed.
"We've been told we're not to go outside but if we do, we will have soldiers with us."
The danger aspect was inescapable but not his focus.
"They've said it's pretty hard and can get pretty real. But I'm told you're really, really helping the people and it's an honour to be part of that."
Mr Amos said nine weeks of work followed by three of play, made his new work bearable but tough for his wife and two teenage boys.
"They are pretty proud of me but at the same time concerned for my safety, of course."
Mr Amos was "playing it by ear" how long he stayed in the position. "I might get too frightened and leave," he laughed.
"Clouseau" will be sadly missed by his colleagues.
A well-known face around town, Mr Amos has had a finger in several pies ranging from a guest spot in the police band, to back-up family violence co-ordinator, to a regular radio spot on Friday mornings.
Mr Amos said "salam malakim" summed up his new job nicely.
This is a common Arabic expression meaning "may peace be with you" and one he hoped to help make come true.
"I'm told the people over there are lovely and all they are trying to do is re-build their country but they need people to teach them how."
Mr Amos was unsure of his exact date of departure but said it would be before the month was out.