Olivette Police Department

One of the organizations that sponsors 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 Olivette, Missouri, is among the departments that have sent delegates to Israel. Rick Knox has served as Chief of Olivette Police Department since 2007, and attended a training in Israel with the ADL in March 2017. He sits on the Board of Directors of the Greater St. Louis Major Case Squad and is a member of the Executive Board of the St. Louis FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Knox first learned of the trip from classmates in an FBI training program in 2009, but the ADL could not fund him at that time. He and a major in a neighboring police department reached out to friends and business contacts who ultimately funded the trip. Knox said he could not share the names of the donors.

His training included site visits at checkpoints and an Israeli prison. Knox was impressed by the Israeli military and law enforcement, stating, “I have never seen a border protected like their borders.” But while offering high praise of Israeli security, he acknowledged that he could not fully implement his training in Israeli counterterrorism:

“There are a lot of things we can’t do because of our constitution.” – Chief Knox

Yet police officials who participated in Knox’s delegation interviewed about this training said that they did consider the Palestinian treatment by the Israeli military and police problematic, nor did they find issues with Black Americans treatment by the US police. Knox himself declared that he opposes discrimination, and that under his jurisdiction people are treated fairly.