Chief Shoemaker beside an Israeli police vehicle
(ATLANTA) — Cleveland Police Chief Jeff Shoemaker recently returned to Georgia from Israel after an intensive two weeks of public safety leadership training with the country’s top police executives for the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange’s (GILEE). This was the 31st annual peer-to-peer executive education program.
Shoemaker was part of a delegation that included 17 Georgia police chiefs, sheriffs, command staff, and a deputy director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
GILEE is recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Treasury as a professional education program. GILEE shapes police executive leadership development through global engagement and an exceptional peer-to-peer experiential learning environment.
The exchange with the Israel Police is one of several global professional exchanges GILEE hosts throughout the year. The Israel delegation learned about strategies to successfully lead law enforcement programs and personnel, along with how to use community policing to build safer neighborhoods for minority communities in partnership with all community stakeholders.
“This was a valuable learning experience and nothing like I have ever seen in our country,” Chief Shoemaker said. “We met with the command staff and officers of the Israeli National Police and warmly welcomed as we visited several of their stations. There was a sense of national pride, unwavering bravery, and dedication to defending their homeland, all the while continuing to deliver traditional police services to their citizens . It was very humbling to see the memorials and hear the stories honoring the 63 Israel National Police officers that were killed during the October 7 terror attacks,” Shoemaker said.
Col. Billy Hitchens, Georgia’s Commissioner of Public Safety, recently spoke to this year’s GILEE delegates about how his experiences as a delegate last summer led to improvements in his agency’s security protocols. While in Israel, they visited a local police station whose chief led them to a reception at the home of a local sheik.
More than 1,300 law enforcement executives from the U.S. and countries around the world have graduated from GILEE peer-to-peer exchange programs in several countries and Georgia during its 33 years. Additionally, more than 45,000 public safety, homeland security, and police executives have attended GILEE-led special briefings, seminars, workshops, training sessions and conferences featuring experts on issues related to homeland security, public safety, community policing, and law enforcement.
GILEE is a research center within Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies whose focus on the protection of civil and human rights during its development of executive leadership exemplifies the core mission of the school.
GILEE receives its funding from external sources. No financial support comes from Georgia State University or the Georgia State University Foundation. For more information on GILEE, go to gilee.gsu.edu.
