Newton County Sheriff’s Office

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. 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 Sheriff’s Office of Newton County, Georgia, is among the departments that have sent delegates to Israel. Ezell Brown has served as Sheriff of Newton County since 2008. He attended a two-week GILEE training in Israel in summer 2011 with 15 other Georgia delegates and one other U.S. delegate. As of 2018, Sammy Banks is a Captain in Newton County. Banks attended a two-week GILEE training in Israel in 2016 with 14 other Georgia delegates as well as leaders from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department in New York, and police departments in Alabama and Washington.

“I came away with more knowledge to improve security and I am more convinced today of the needs for the U.S. to protect our borders. Even though we are unlike Israel where there are enemies on each side of them, we do know it’s imperative that we protect our borders.” – Sheriff Brown, who also described the trip as a “biblical experience.”

Captain Banks remarked:

“Israel’s police have developed an effective unity of effort with great cooperation and communication, and by doing so they are able to work very closely and effectively with very diverse communities and provide great public safety. That really translates well into Newton County, as we are an extremely diverse community, from religion to race to economics.”

Banks also reported that his training dovetailed with the concepts of community policing described by the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which was published in 2015. As of 2018, Banks is listed as responsible for administering the operations of Uniform Patrol, Traffic Unit, School Resource, HEAT Unit (relating to impaired and aggressive driving), C.H.A.M.P.S. (an educational program for youth), and Community Outreach.