A North Carolina city council voted Monday to prohibit its police department from engaging in international exchanges with agencies whose officers receive military-style training.
The Durham City Council voted 6-0 for the policy, which resulted from a petition by a coalition of groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace, seeking a ban on any partnership the department might enter into with Israeli defense forces or the Israel Police.
The groups say Israeli tactics promote racial bias and police militarization.
"I hope this [ban] spreads," Hillsborough resident Deborah Rosenstein told the council during her turn at the podium.
"Because all of us who care about fighting racism, and all of us who care about trying to have democracy maintained or exist in this country – we need to not have militarized police forces."
Hillsborough is about 15 miles northwest of Durham.
Some opponents said the petition was a display of anti-Semitism. The Fraternal Order of Police lodge wrote to the council opposing the petition, saying it serves "to push their [the groups'] anti-police agenda."
A police spokesman said the department has not engaged in any exchanges with Israel and has no plan to do so at this time.
WRAL-TV reported that former Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez spent a week in Israel undergoing training.
"None of the training had anything to do with militarization," Lopez said. "It was about leadership, it was learning about terrorism, and then learning about how to interact with people who are involved in mass casualty situations and how to manage mass casualty situations."
Lopez also said that while he was police chief, two of his commanders went to Washington to receive training from Israel Police officials, and he felt the experiences were "valuable."
