Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Police 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 Metropolitan Police Department of Savannah-Chatham is among those departments whose law enforcement executives promote JINSA’s LEEP program. Michael Berkow served as Chief of Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department between 2006 and 2009, and has served on JINSA’s Board of Advisors for LEEP.

He was hired in 2012 as a consultant by the Boston Police Department to do a review of their internal affairs, amid criticism that he is not the right person for the job because of past misconduct, alluding to several lawsuits he was involved with, as well as a potential murder cover-up and racial discrimination.