Over the last decade, the Los Angeles Police Department has sent employees to Israel at least nine times to train or be trained by the country’s counterterrorism experts, but officers frequently failed to document what they learned or whom they met, the LA Times reports.
A new report from the Police Commission’s Office of the Inspector General found that the department lacks a system for tracking employees who participate in training with foreign law enforcement agencies. The report reviewed 117 foreign training activities attended by 243 LAPD employees since 2014 and concluded that poor record-keeping made it impossible to evaluate their benefits.
Although LAPD officials claimed the department did not adopt new tactics, policies, or training programs as a result of these trips, the inspector general said the lack of documentation prevented verification of that assertion. The department’s relationship with Israeli security forces has drawn heightened scrutiny amid Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and allegations of genocide.
Since 2014, 18 LAPD officials traveled to Israel at a cost of $87,000, including one federally funded trip labeled “Command and Control Counter-Terrorism,” for which officials could not explain specific outcomes. At a recent Police Commission meeting, LAPD leaders acknowledged shortcomings in tracking overseas travel, said a new system is being developed, and noted that many records from before 2021 were deleted under data retention rules.
PHOTO: Courtesy LA Times
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