News        from ABAC

Michael D. Chason Director of Public Relations ABAC 30 -- 2802 Moore Highway Tifton, GA 31793-2601 Phone 229-391-5055 Fax 229-391-5056 mchason@abac.edu

IMMEDIATE JUNE 17, 2005

ABAC’S PURCELL LEARNS FROM POLICE IN ISRAEL

TIFTON—Billy Purcell, Assistant Chief of Police at Abraham Baldwin College, traveled to Israel in May to take part in the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) program. GILEE was established in 1992 as a joint project of Georgia State University and law enforcement.

Purcell and 12 other law enforcement personnel from the state arrived in Tel-Aviv and spent two weeks traveling the country.

Purcell said, “We traveled from Tel-Aviv to Haifa, the northernmost part of the country, and spent four days there. We then spent four days in Jerusalem and a day in Nazareth. After that, we traveled to Eilat, which is the southern tip of the country. Eilat is surrounded by desert and is a resort community sitting on the Red Sea. The desert and desert mountains around Eilat are ‘virtually uninhabited.’”

On his travels, Purcell was also able to see the borders of Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.

Purcell said, “We were in Golan Heights at the Israeli border. I turned to my east and the Jordan border guards were looking back at me. Then I turned to the north and the checkpoint guards of Syria were staring back through their binoculars.”

He also visited the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea, and the Red Sea. “I swam in both the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea,” Purcell said.

Purcell said, “In Israel, there is only one police force, unlike the United States which has federal, state, county, and city police. There are approximately 25,000 full-time and 75,000 part-time officers in Israel, and all are equally trained and certified. Israeli citizens work with the police force.”

Purcell learned a lot about the police force of Israel. “Professionally, I saw a lot of ways to bring some of the terrorist and crisis training that I received to situations that may arise here,” Purcell said.

“The Israeli community is not afraid to go up to an officer and tell him of something suspicious. They practice community policing better than we do.”

Through this program, Purcell can teach other law enforcement agencies and the civilian population the techniques he has learned abroad. He will also receive credit for training from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Purcell said there were a lot of differences from the U.S. Cost was a definite eye-opener.

“A gallon of gas is over five dollars and to purchase a very modest 500 square foot apartment costs $85,000,” Purcell said. “They are also more courteous drivers although Israelis park everywhere, including sidewalks. I learned more about how the country works politically, what Israel produces, and made a lot of new friends. The people were the most pleasant part of this experience.”

The GILEE program is accredited by both state and federal governments. The goals of the program are to enhance inter-agency cooperation between the state of Georgia law enforcement and the police force of Israel; to offer an educational professional program to senior Israeli law enforcement officials in Georgia; and to offer an educational professional program to senior Georgia law enforcement officials in Israel, primarily in the areas of counter-terrorism and drug interdiction.

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