Clayton Police Department

One of the organizations that sponsor 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 combatting 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 Clayton, Missouri, is among the departments that have sent delegates to Israel. Kevin Murphy has served as Chief of Clayton Police Department since 2014, a position he currently remains in today. Chief Murphy attended a training in Israel in 2017 with the ADL as a delegate of their first regional Western States/St. Louis Counter-Terrorism Seminar, modeled after the National Counter-Terrorism Seminar. His training includes meetings with Israeli military commanders, members of the Israel National Police and the Palestinian Authority police, and also includes Israeli checkpoints in the occupied West Bank and a visit to the Israeli prison system.

Chief Murphy was asked by a local newspaper what they learned from the Israeli trainings that they would like to implement in the US. He responded by saying, When you are in the position of having to prepare for these mass demonstrations, the things that we do, speaking publicly about the nuances that we look at, I wouldnt want to comment on that directly. According to the local newspaper, the police officials interviewed said that they didn’t see problems in the Palestinian treatment by the Israeli military and police, and they didn’t see problems in their own departments treatment of Black Americans.

This trip was in some respect an affirmation that what we do currently is similar to some of the things that are done in Israel.” ~ Chief Kevin Murphy