A group of senior officers from the State of Washington came for a seminar in Israel to learn from the rich experience of the Israel police in the field of terror.
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Former Israel Police officer Gil Kleinman, one of the hosts of the visit, said that the group includes policemen, firemen, and security professionals who were all brought over by the United States Department of Homeland Security for training. Lieutenant Donny Low from the Seattle Police Department told IsraelNN TV: “In the city of Seattle, we are trying to prepare ourselves to deal with terrorism and improvised explosive devices - something that the country of Israel has a long history of dealing with. We are here to learn from some of the expertise they have developed over the years.”
“For many years, the American law enforcement and the American security establishment had the luxury that policemen did not have to deal with terror,” explained Kleinman.
The visitors visited a single police station in a small town which deals with existential threats 24 hours a day – the police station of the southern city of Sderot.
“The purpose of this visit,” explained Kleinman, “is to give them sort of an overview of how the Israelis have been able to combine a normal life with fighting terror.”
Lieutenant Low stated that fighting terror alongside crime is something essentially new for the American policemen. “We have been pretty much free of terror attacks especially from the outside,” said Low, “so now we are trying to dual task police officers. It's something we are fast trying to catch up to and become proficient at,” he added.