Sunday, May 23, 2010
Police Recruits to Learn About Tolerance in the City
Nassau County Police Department recruits will get the opportunity to learn about tolerance and acceptance on Tuesday when they take part in a workshop hosted by the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County in Glen Cove and the Anti-Defamation League of New York.
The county, organizers explained, sends all of its graduating recruits to this four hour workshop, where they learn about law enforcement's role during the Holocaust and how this relates to law officials' role today.
The program was developed in the late 1990s by the United State Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. along with the Anti-Defamation League. It served as a training model for recruits, in-service and command level police officers, federal judges and new FBI agents.
According to Howard Maier, the board chairman at the center, more than 50,000 officers and all entering members of the FBI have gone through this training since its inception.
"The center is one of three in the nation to provide the program," explained Beth Lilach, the center's senior director of education. "The center has been providing these workshops to Nassau County police recruits for the last four years. Last year, it started providing workshops to the Suffolk County police departments as well."
During the first three hours of the workshop, officials at the center make presentations about the decisions law officials made during the Holocaust. Lilach explained that center officials highlight that Nazi Germany was a police state and the officers were essentially given unlimited power.
"Law enforcement supported and implemented the evolution of national hatred and eventually full-blown genocide," Lilach said. "The law enforcement assisted in the appropriation of Jewish property and were responsible for gathering, arresting and deporting Jews to concentration camps."
In the last hour of the workshop, representatives of the Anti-Defamation League make comparisons between the law enforcement of Nazi Germany and present day.
"Law enforcement today is our protector and our defender," Lilach said. "It keeps us from going down that slippery slope and protects human way of life and defends the rights of citizens. German police took an oath to Hitler. Our police take an oath to uphold the Constitution and human rights, providing justice and equality for all."
County Police Chief Karen O'Callaghan — who became the highest ranking woman in the 84-year history of the county's police department when she was appointed chief last year — said the recruits learn a lot by participating in the program.
"I had the opportunity to observe the program in 2006 when it was only taught in Washington, D.C.," O'Callaghan said. "Although we already had an aggressive program to teach cultural diversity and tolerance, I thought this was a tool to help police officers understand that power could be abused. The lessons of the Holocaust are used to take a look and see how we can treat the public with compassion and understanding and truly be the protectors of their safety and the Constitution."
O'Callaghan will also share a few words during Tuesday's workshop.
"Based on some of the responses we have gotten, this workshop has given them pause to think about some of their actions," O'Callaghan added. "It has taught them how they act and how they do their job can be misunderstood as abusive and discriminatory. They learn their duties of protecting the community in a professional and compassionate way."
http://glencove.patch.com/articles/police-recruits-to-learn-about-tolerance-in-the-city
The county, organizers explained, sends all of its graduating recruits to this four hour workshop, where they learn about law enforcement's role during the Holocaust and how this relates to law officials' role today.
The program was developed in the late 1990s by the United State Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. along with the Anti-Defamation League. It served as a training model for recruits, in-service and command level police officers, federal judges and new FBI agents.
According to Howard Maier, the board chairman at the center, more than 50,000 officers and all entering members of the FBI have gone through this training since its inception.
"The center is one of three in the nation to provide the program," explained Beth Lilach, the center's senior director of education. "The center has been providing these workshops to Nassau County police recruits for the last four years. Last year, it started providing workshops to the Suffolk County police departments as well."
During the first three hours of the workshop, officials at the center make presentations about the decisions law officials made during the Holocaust. Lilach explained that center officials highlight that Nazi Germany was a police state and the officers were essentially given unlimited power.
"Law enforcement supported and implemented the evolution of national hatred and eventually full-blown genocide," Lilach said. "The law enforcement assisted in the appropriation of Jewish property and were responsible for gathering, arresting and deporting Jews to concentration camps."
In the last hour of the workshop, representatives of the Anti-Defamation League make comparisons between the law enforcement of Nazi Germany and present day.
"Law enforcement today is our protector and our defender," Lilach said. "It keeps us from going down that slippery slope and protects human way of life and defends the rights of citizens. German police took an oath to Hitler. Our police take an oath to uphold the Constitution and human rights, providing justice and equality for all."
County Police Chief Karen O'Callaghan — who became the highest ranking woman in the 84-year history of the county's police department when she was appointed chief last year — said the recruits learn a lot by participating in the program.
"I had the opportunity to observe the program in 2006 when it was only taught in Washington, D.C.," O'Callaghan said. "Although we already had an aggressive program to teach cultural diversity and tolerance, I thought this was a tool to help police officers understand that power could be abused. The lessons of the Holocaust are used to take a look and see how we can treat the public with compassion and understanding and truly be the protectors of their safety and the Constitution."
O'Callaghan will also share a few words during Tuesday's workshop.
"Based on some of the responses we have gotten, this workshop has given them pause to think about some of their actions," O'Callaghan added. "It has taught them how they act and how they do their job can be misunderstood as abusive and discriminatory. They learn their duties of protecting the community in a professional and compassionate way."
http://glencove.patch.com/articles/police-recruits-to-learn-about-tolerance-in-the-city
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