ADL Trains Torrance Police Department with Law Enforcement and Society Program

  • September 3, 2015

Pictured: Torrance Police Department Supervising Officers Engage with ADL and LAMOTH Staff at Recent Law Enforcement and Society Training

ADL’s community service and education staff completed its training of 45 supervising officers in the Torrance Police Department over three sessions as part of the recently launched Law Enforcement and Society program on the west coast.  The Law Enforcement and Society program, which started in Washington D.C. in 1998 as a partnership between ADL and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, is an innovative and nationally acclaimed training program for law enforcement, from police recruits to executives. The goals of the program include: (1) examining the history of the Holocaust and its implications while emphasizing the importance of law enforcement’s role as protectors of democracy; (2) focusing on the relationship of law enforcement to the government and to the communities they serve; and (3) encouraging law enforcement officials to focus on the core values of their profession.  With the west coast launch of the program, ADL is proud to partner with the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH).

Over the three workshops, Torrance Police Department’s supervising officers learned more about the Holocaust through a guided tour of the museum with LAMOTH staff, and then engaging in critical reflection and training activities with ADL staff.  Regional Director Amanda Susskind sees this program as a priority given importance of creating trust between communities and law enforcement.  “Law Enforcement and Society help law enforcement apply critical lessons of yesterday to the realities facing them today,” said Susskind.  “The interactive and intensive experience reinforces law enforcement’s core values of protecting and serving.”

ADL is the largest non-governmental provider in the United States of training for law enforcement on issues surrounding hate crimes, extremism, and terrorism. Each year, ADL experts deliver customized, in-depth training on these subjects to over 10,000 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers.   As just one of our law enforcement training programs, Law Enforcement and Society examines the lessons of the Holocaust to highlight the core values of American law enforcement and its role as protector of the Constitution and individual rights. Over 100,000 officers have gone through the training in D.C.  The Torrance Police Department is the first in a long line of departments now looking to go through the program in L.A.

If you are in law enforcement and interested in having your department personnel go through this training, please contact la@adl.org or (310) 446-8000.