Jefferson Police Department

The Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) is one of the organizations that organize and sponsor these joint trainings. As a joint program of the 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.

The Police Department of Jefferson, Georgia, is among the departments that have sent delegates to and hosted delegates from Israel. Joe Wirthman has served as Chief of Jefferson Police Department since 2006. Chief Wirthman attended a GILEE training in Israel in 2011. In 2014, he became the 4th VP of the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police (GACP), the same year the GACP named the Director of GILEE, Dr. Robert R. (Robbie) Friedmann, as the recipient of the Special Service Award. Additional Jefferson Police Department officials have attended trainings in Israel, and the department also hosted four high-ranking Israeli police officials in 2017.