Macomb County Sheriff’s Department

One of the organizations that organize and sponsor these trainings is the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA). JINSA is a think tank that advocates for US-Israeli security cooperation, increased domestic military spending, and military aid to Israel, and has board members with close ties to US defense contractors. JINSA launched its Law Enforcement Exchange Program (LEEP) shortly after 9/11, and since 2002 has run annual trips to Israel for US federal, state, and local law enforcement. Over 11,000 additional American law enforcement officials have attended LEEP conferences nationwide, which bring in Israeli security officials as experts.

The Sheriff’s Department of Macomb County, Michigan, is among the departments that have sent delegates to Israel. Mark Hackel served as Sheriff of Macomb County Sheriff’s Department between 2001 and 2010. Since 2010, Sheriff Hackel has served as Macomb countys first county executive in charge of the entire executive branch of the county government. Hackel attended a training in Israel with JINSA as a delegate of the LEEP program in 2005. In 2008, a JINSA-sponsored conference was held in Michigan where Hackel, along with 200 other Michigan police officers, received training from Israeli military and police. County Executive Mark Hackel says theres a 50-50 chance chance of running for Governor of Michigan in 2018.