Pittsfield police chief shares highlights of mission to Israel

[media-credit id=3 align=”alignleft” width=”225″][/media-credit]LENOX – Pittsfield Chief of Police Michael J. Wynn recently saw firsthand how the Israeli National Police Force operates in a country the size of Delaware and that is surrounded by hostile elements.

He stood on ground where Jesus Christ probably once walked, visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, attended numerous surveillance briefings, waded briefly in the Sea of Galilee and swam in the Red Sea.

The multitude of experiences were all part of a recent training and fact-finding mission to Israel he took along with more than a dozen other United States law enforcement agency representatives.

They spent several jam-packed days interacting with Israeli police peers while visiting numerous holy and historic places.

There was very little personal or flexible time on the trip, he said. The group was heavily scheduled from morning to night.

One of the personal highlights of his time in Israel was being a guest at a Sabbath dinner in the private home of an inspiring family who warmly welcomed him and his peers.

[media-credit id=3 align=”alignleft” width=”276″][/media-credit]Last weekend, the local police chief talked in depth about his Israeli experience to an attentive group of people at St. Helena’s Chapel, where he is a member.

The Anti-Defamation League sponsored the law enforcement representatives’ visit to Israel. This was the fourth year they sponsored the visit.

The league is a United States-based non-profit educational group with a long-standing relationship with law enforcement, Chief Wynn said.

A civil rights and human relations agency, the league was founded in 1913 “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.”

The trip took place from Jan. 27 through Feb. 3. It was the first time there was western Massachusetts representation, Chief Wynn said.

The entire trip was a “significantly personal” event for the local police chief.

When the travelers left, the temperature outside was 10 degrees below zero, Chief Wynn said. When they arrived in Tel Aviv, it was “60 degrees and beautiful.”

There was a briefing the very first night of their arrival. The visitors learned that Israel is a Jewish as well as Middle Eastern and Western state that is a democracy and “very complicated.”  It’s an independent nation that is incredibly narrow.

“It’s a really compact area,” Chief Wynn said, adding some of his officers could probably run across the entire country.

Just about everywhere they went, including malls and restaurants, they had to pass through metal detectors.

The mindset in Israel is very different from the United States, Chief Wynn said. Everyone, male and female, is required to serve in the army for three years. Everyone knows how to handle a gun.

There is just one police force that covers the entire country, namely, the Israeli National Police.  Chief Wynn noted he is a bit jealous this country does not have just one force.

He found the Israeli people to be “genuine, kind and resilient.”

[media-credit id=3 align=”alignright” width=”264″][/media-credit]“Everybody was so gracious,” he said.

There were also so many nationalities there, as well as tourists from around the world.

“It’s a melting pot,” Chief Wynn said.

He showed numerous slides taken throughout the mission that depicted many historical places such as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where the body of Jesus Christ was prepared for burial.

Also shown was the cave where the body of Joseph of Aremathea remains. He is the man who gave up his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after the crucifixion.

The title of Chief Wynn’s presentation was “Israel: Yesterday and Today: Adventure on the AFL’s Northeast Counter-Terrorism Seminar in Israel.”

He began his lecture by facing the audience and saying, “shalom,” a Hebrew word which means peace. The audience responded in kind.

Chief Wynn’s association with St. Helena’s Chapel of Lenox goes back a long way. He said he remembers attending services there as a boy when he was growing up in Pittsfield. Chief Wynn and his wife joined the chapel three years ago.

Posted by Susan M. Wicker Guerrero on March 14, 2013. Filed under Community Events,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry