CAP Public Safety VP Studies Counterterrorism in Israel

July 13,2011

David E. Wardell, Vice President of Operations and Public Safety for Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District, has returned from Israel after a two-week training program to study counterterrorism, emergency management, and other types of policing strategies from Israeli police.

Wardell was part of the 17-member delegation of law enforcement officials who received the training through the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE).

The exchange program, which was founded in 1992 by Dr. Robert Friedmann in the Georgia State University Department of Criminal Justice, provides senior law enforcement officers with professional training opportunities in policing techniques from peers abroad.

This year the delegation included state and local law enforcement officials representing a variety of Georgia communities as well as the deputy commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety and the director of the Mankato Department of Public Safety (Minnesota).

“GILEE emphasizes the importance of making best practices and sources of excellence available to its participants so they can improve law enforcement service provision to their communities. The increasing threat of terrorism (international and domestic), fluctuations in crime, and budget shortfalls behoove law enforcement leaders to learn from the best how to  improve and balance service delivery. The program in Israel offers exactly that opportunity,” says Friedmann.

This marks the 19th delegation of Georgia law enforcement officers to visit Israel through the GILEE exchange program.