Georgia law enforcement executives return from two-week Israel exchange

Mike Register, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, recently returned from leading 20 officers on an intensive two-week training program for public safety executives in Israel through Georgia State University’s Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE). Photo: GBI

A group of 20 executives from top Georgian law enforcement agencies have returned from a two-week program focused on community policing in Israel.

The delegation included Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Michael Register, who served as director, along with 12 Georgian police chiefs, three sheriffs, and officers from the Georgia Department of Public Safety and the Georgia Public Safety Training Center. A Tennessee police chief was also present.

The 30th Annual Peer-to-Peer Exchange was organized by the Israel Police Force as part of the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE), a research center within the Israel Police Force Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University.

Since its inception in the early 1990s, GILEE, as it is known, has conducted more than 500 programs, involving more than 43,000 law enforcement, homeland security and public safety executives. Law enforcement officials from Georgia have reached out to their counterparts in 25 countries to share best practices. About 1,250 have completed a peer-to-peer exchange like that conducted in Israel.

During their stay, the group shared ideas on building safer communities for minorities through community policing, a practice to improve communication and engagement between law enforcement agencies and the neighborhoods they are tasked with protecting.

Founding Director Robbie Friedman and Associate Director Brent Cummings led the delegation from the GILEE side.

Before leaving, the executives heard from previous attendees, including Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King, who delivered a keynote address urging them to share the knowledge he gained from what he believed to be a transformative professional development experience had.

A press release from the Ministry of Public Security of Georgia did not list the organizations with which the group worked locally in Israel, nor the cities to which the delegates traveled. GILEE has worked with Israel for many years, with previous programs resulting in partnerships with the state

The exchange goes both ways: Last month in Atlanta, GILEE helped organize a visit by German educators and police officers to learn how the Atlanta metropolitan police forces are embracing innovation and technology, hiring officers and investing in education.

Read more about this journey and the broader GILEE programs here:

Exchange program brings German police to Atlanta to share best practices and innovations

Learn more about GILEE at https://gilee.gsu.edu.

Twenty participants from Georgian law enforcement agencies visited Israel to complete a two-week community policing training course as part of the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange. Photo: Georgia Department of Public Safety