Milton Police Department

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

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In 2002, just months after 9/11, American police officers held their first official training expedition to Israel to learn about “counter-terrorism.” Since then, hundreds of law enforcement officials and government agents from across the country have been sent to Israel to meet with military and police forces, and thousands more have participated in conferences, trainings, and workshops with Israeli officials in the United States.

The American and Israeli governments justify these exchanges on the grounds that the United States and Israel share the mission of the War on Terror. American facilitators and participants of these programs similarly argue that the United States and Israel are allied democracies whose law enforcement agencies play a crucial role in preserving national security.

While framed as an opportunity for US law enforcement to learn policing strategies from a closely aligned democracy with counter-terror experience, in fact these are trainings with an occupying force that rules a population deprived of human and civil rights. Rather than promoting security for all, these programs facilitate an exchange of methods of state violence and control, including mass surveillance, racial profiling, and suppression of protest and dissent.

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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 Milton, Georgia, is among the departments that have sent delegates to Israel. Deborah Harrell served as Chief of Milton Police Department between 2009 and 2014, and attended a GILEE training in Israel in 2012. Chief Harrell praised the new practices she learned in Israel:

I gained unparalleled knowledge of practices I would have had no exposure to before the trip. ~ Chief Harrell

After her retirement Harrell moved to the private security sector and is currently the Director of National Retail Security at AT&T.
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