Palmer brings new view home from Afghanistan
By ALTHEA PETERSON World Staff Writer
1/14/2008
Tulsa Police Chief Ron Palmer never served in the military.
Being in the Police Department was all about public service, Palmer said. Four years after he retired as Tulsa's police chief, he saw another chance at public service: the opportunity to serve alongside the U.S. military rebuilding Afghanistan.
"Not ever being in the military, I thought I could still contribute to the operation . . . I thought I could be part of the rebuilding, Operation Enduring Freedom," Palmer said.
He turned down offers by DynCorp Inc.'s office in Irving, Texas, for him to go to Haiti, but for the life experience and the extensive monetary and tax benefits, Palmer chose to go to Afghanistan to mentor police forces for a year.
About four and a half months into his stay, Palmer chose to return home.
Culture shock: The experience of being a minority was different, Palmer said. Afghans consider it rude to make hand gestures while talking or giving directions. However, the most unusual experience Palmer had was the formal greeting: touching faces cheek to cheek.
"I never got used to that, because it was so foreign to me," Palmer said. "The Afghans want to be their own people; they don't all want to embrace Western values, although they seemed to appreciate what we were doing."
The experience brought a new appreciation for Palmer, too.
"Being a minority in that country, a white person in a predominantly Muslim country, you have a better appreciation of how minorities are treated in this country," he said.
Training time When Palmer arrived in the country, he received a gun, a protective vest and assignment instructions. He started work the next day.
"There was no orientation," Palmer recalled.
On the third day, he met the man he would be mentoring, Brig. Gen. Galnabi Ahmadzi, whom Palmer called an "intelligent man" and "definitely a target for the Taliban." The two men communicated through a translator.
Ahmadzi's responsibilities included the education and training of Afghanistan's 62,000 police officers, many of whom were illiterate and were paid the equivalent of $70 per month.
"You couple the low pay with the opportunity to participate in the opium trade, the narcotics trade, and the police equipment was stolen often," Palmer said. "The people had a reason to distrust the police force. There were some that didn't want us there at all."
Although Palmer said he would like to think that people are going to be honest, especially police officers, the experience showed him the need to track assets better and have a better management of officers, he said.
"I've seen a side of police corruption that I've never seen before, so I make sure I examine staff more critically," Palmer said. "I think I came back with a better thought of whether narcotic officers weren't getting sucked into the narcotic world after you've seen the worst of the worst."
Returning to Tulsa: After four months of experiencing a different side of policing, in which police had the job of holding back insurgents, rather than responding to 911 calls or being friends of the public, Palmer returned to the U.S. eight months early.
"I left because I didn't feel I was making a difference," he said. "By the time I was there in 2006, billions had been poured into the training of Afghan police. . . . It all looked the same at the end of the day.
"The Afghan people seemed very appreciative of the dollars spent on them and helping the economy, but the infrastructure hasn't gotten any better, the violence hasn't gotten any better."
Many Afghans expressed a desire to come to the U.S. Palmer said he could see why.
"I came back with a sense of how fortunate we are to live here with the resources provided by the city," he said. "You just can't fathom how lucky you feel once you get back here. There was no freedom to travel about, because of company regulations and the ever-present danger."
By the end of the year, Palmer was back as Tulsa's police chief, but because of his experiences in Afghanistan, he is not the same chief or the same man he was when he left the post in 2002.
"I'm glad to be sitting here in this office, rather than an office in Kabul, wondering if the kerosene heater will work," Palmer said. "The best thing I gained was an appreciation of what we have here in the U.S. of A., and secondly, the choices we have here."
Althea Peterson 581-8361
althea.peterson@tulsaworld.com
Copyright Tulsa World 2008. All rights reserved. Format differs from original publication.
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