A POLICE officer has told how he is helping Coalition forces target terror gangs in Iraq.

Detective Inspector Colin Tansley is sharing intelligence-gathering techniques used in successful police operations on Teesside to help shape the Iraqi police force.

Det Insp Tansley said the chance to work in Iraq was too good an opportunity to miss, despite the fact he lives in a reinforced trailer in an underground car park and has the use of an automatic pistol.

He said: "They wanted a criminal intelligence officer to help re-launch the Iraqi police force and, as an advisor, I am working with the Coalition putting in structures to assist the Iraqi government.

"I am working directly with the police, the Iraqi national intelligence service and others. Criminal gangs are responsible for a lot of terrorism, so the work we do will hopefully have an effect on that."

Det Insp Tansley, who is on a six-month secondment in Iraq, said his father was concerned that he was in Iraq.

He said: "My dad thinks I am round the bend. Obviously there are risks but, on the other hand, I could get knocked down just crossing the road.

"You have to make a balance. This is the sort of job that does not come along every day. The expertise we have can make a difference."

The underground car park where he lives is below one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces, which the Americans will turn into an embassy.

He can keep in touch with his family and work colleagues on Teesside via an Internet link from the former palace.

Det Insp Tansley also recently met Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, who was visiting the area.

* Cleveland Police Force armourer PC Dave Bew has just returned from six months in Jordan schooling Iraqi police officers in police techniques and weapons training. His distinctive black and olive coloured arab head dress made him something of a fashion icon.

He said: "The Palestinians wear blue and white, the Jordanians red and white, the Saudis white, but nobody had seen anything like mine."