[My for-note: The following text is from a recent correspondence from an organization that I have been a member for a great number of years, The Police Executive Research Foundation (PERF). I urge you to read Dror Avda’s comments below. He serves in Israel’s Police and Security Ministry and shares what happened to police in Israel during the Hamas terrorist attack last week. The message is policing is serving… serving others even to the point of giving your life to protect another. That is the harsh reality for those who are called to police a free societyolice officers must be ready to respond selflessly. Pray for those men and women and their surviving loved ones – 52 police officers killed, 300 injured.]
“Dear PERF members, As I [Executive Director Chuck Wexler] wrote last week, I’ve been deeply saddened by Hamas’s senseless attack on Israel two weeks ago. At our Town Hall Meeting in San Diego on Sunday [October 15th], we had the opportunity to hear from Brigadier General Dror Avda, who serves as Israel’s Police and Public Security Ministry Attaché to North America, and others on the events in Israel. We introduced the topic by showing a New York Times video compilation of the attack on the town of Sderot.”
Brig. Gen. Dror Avda, Israel’s Police and Public Security Ministry Attaché to North America
“We lost more than 52 police officers this week. We now have more than 300 wounded police officers. Most of them are regular police officers. We lost more than nine people from the counterterror unit. We lost a lot of people from the special forces. But a lot of them were regular police officers like you and me. They were preparing for their shift. Because it was a holiday, they were preparing to take the children to a ceremony. And they woke up to a nightmare. And they then had to decide if they’re really police officers who enlisted to guard people and lay down their lives to help the citizens survive. The first thing an enlisted police officer needs to know is that one day we may call him and say, Okay, this is your moment of truth. You need to decide if you are going to kill or be killed to save somebody else’s life, or you can stay in bed. And this is the contract. The relationship between police and community will one day be challenged and tested. If you look after each other, and they know you are their defenders, their partners, they will come and fight with you. The last thing that I want to tell you is something personal. I lost more than 20 friends this week. People who were under my command. Friends. We are going to win because we are part of a nation that has lived more than 3,000 years. And every generation has its challenge. My grandfather and grandmother came from Germany. They had a number on their hand. That was their shift. My father fought in the Yom Kippur War. That was his shift. Now it’s our shift. And we are going to win it.” ___________________
I served over 20 years as the chief of police in Madison (WI), four years as chief of the Burnsville (MN) Police Department, and before that as a police officer in Edina (MN) and the City of Minneapolis. I hold graduate degrees from the University of Minnesota and Edgewood College in Madison. I have written many articles over my years as a police leader. After retiring from the police department, I answered a call to ministry, attended seminary, and was ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church. After almost 30 years serving in and leading two Episcopal Churches in the Diocese of Milwaukee, I am "sort-of" in the process of retirement. Life is good.
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