Atlanta Police Department

One of the organizations that organize and sponsor these joint trainings is the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE), a joint program of Georgia State University and local law enforcement. GILEE works to foster cooperation between law enforcement agencies in Georgia and Israel, educating Israeli law enforcement on community policing and training Georgia law enforcement on counter-terrorism. Since its establishment, GILEE has run law enforcement executive development and trainings to enhance homeland security, through 450 programs that reached over 33,000 law enforcement and other executives across over 25 states and 25 countries.

Another organization that organizes and sponsors these trainings is the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The ADL is a non-profit that works to combat anti-Semitism and advocate for Israel. In this context, the ADL runs a National Counter-Terrorism Seminar that has sent hundreds of top ranking officials to Israel to learn about combating terror since 2003. That same year the ADL established an Advanced Training School that brings delegations of Israeli law enforcement to speak to American law enforcement officials, involving over 1,000 U.S. participants since the program began.

The Police Department of Atlanta, Georgia, is among the departments that have sent delegates to Israel. George Turner served as Chief of Atlanta Police Department between 2010 and 2016. Chief Turner attended a training in Israel as a delegate of GILEE. After Chief Turners visit, the Atlanta Police Department created and implemented the Video Integration Center, a sophisticated network of more than 5,300 both public and private cameras. The Video Integration Center helps to proactively monitor crime and is modeled after the command and control center in the Old City of Jerusalem. Chief Turner currently serves as Vice President of Safety and Security for the Atlanta Hawks and Philips Arena.

Atlanta Police Major Debra Williams attended a training in Israel with the ADL as a delegate of the National Counter-Terrorism Seminar (NCTS) in September 2009. In 2011, Major Williams was to be demoted from Major to Lieutenant after a botched raid on a gay nightclub in Atlanta, but subsequently retired the day before the demotion was to take place. She is now Major and Field Operations Commander of Clayton County Schools Police Department.

Major-Commander Khirus E. Williams attended a GILEE training in Israel in 2010.

Major Rodney Bryant attended a training in Israel as a delegate of GILEE in 2014, and is now Assistant Chief.

Deputy Police Chief Joseph Spillane attended a training in Israel as a delegate of GILEE in June 2015. He served as Deputy Chief from 2013 – 2016. Currently, he serves as the Chief of Georgia State University Police Department, a position he was appointed to in 2016.

Atlanta Police Department hosted senior police officials from the Israel National Police Department in 2014 as part of an exchange program sponsored by the Atlanta Police Leadership Institute (APLI), a program that prepares all ranks for promotional opportunities and hosted Israeli National Police executives in partnership with GILEE in 2015. After his return from the Israeli training, Chief Spillane told a public radio station that the Atlanta Police Leadership Institute is modeled on the Israeli model.

Kasim Reed, the Mayor of Atlanta, rejected the call by grassroots organizations to end police exchanges with Israel, saying:

“There was a demand that I stop allowing the Atlanta Police Department to train with the Israeli police department. I’m not going to do that. I happen to believe that the Israeli police department has some of the best counterterrorism techniques in the world. And it benefits our police department from that longstanding relationship.” – Kasim Reed, Mayor of Atlanta