The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) sent officers to train in Israel on nine separate occasions, the Los Angeles Police Commission’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) revealed last week.
The report, “Review of the LAPD’s foreign training activities,” reveals that 18 LAPD employees traveled to Israel for training between 2014 and 2024, at a total cost of $87,000. Officials told the commission that the officers were learning from Israeli counterterrorism experts.
Joint counter-terror training
Over the last decade, the LAPD sent employees to Israel to train or be trained by the country’s counterterrorism experts on at least nine occasions.
The most-attended Israel-related training activity occurred in 2014, when it sent eight employees to Israel for a “Command and Control Counter-Terrorism” event as part of “Executive Development.” According to the department’s Excel spreadsheet, the trip cost $52,470 and was funded by a federal grant.
Other activities included the 2018, 2019, and 2022 Jewish Institute for National Security (JINSA) Homeland Security Program; the Command and Control Counter-Terrorism event; the Explosive Detection Dog exercise; the International Law Enforcement Conference; and the International Police Commissioners and Top LEA Executives’ Conference.
However, according to the OIG, officers who attended these training sessions and dozens of other overseas seminars and conferences routinely failed to document what they learned or keep track of who they met with. “The OIG was unable to assess the full nature and extent of the training activities [in Israel] due to limited available information,” the report reads.
According to the OIG, this reveals a lack of a system to track employees who train with law enforcement agencies worldwide.
Concern over the LAPD's ties to Israel
The report itself was commissioned in 2024 after concerns were raised about LAPD employees making official visits to Israel and the nature of the department’s relationship with Israeli forces. The review, therefore, explored all LAPD participation in training activities with foreign entities, including seminars, joint exercises, and conferences.
In total, the OIG identified 117 foreign training activities involving 243 LAPD employees. This includes nine trips to Israel, 28 training activities in Canada, 18 in the UK, five in South Korea, five in France, six in Mexico, three in the UAE, and 43 listed as “other.”
80% of the funding for the personnel’s foreign travel came from "outside funding," while only 12% came from the department itself.
Regarding the Israel training, the majority of the $87,000 total cost was fronted by “external entities.”
While the OIG acknowledged that participation in foreign training activities, such as those conducted in Israel, is “a common practice intended to enhance law enforcement capabilities through global knowledge exchange,” it stressed the need for a more structured and secure approach to managing them.
Review results in OIG recommendations
“The OIG recognizes that participation in foreign and cross-national training activities has the potential to significantly strengthen international relationships and enhance officers’ skills and cross-cultural competencies. However, to fully realize these benefits and ensure responsible stewardship of Department resources, it is important that such programs be supported by clear documentation that justifies their financial and personnel commitments to the Department and the City of Los Angeles,” the office said.
The office recommended that the OIG establish procedures for maintaining consistent communication with participants while they are outside the country, such as requiring daily check-ins during training events. It also recommended that foreign contacts be vetted through federal agencies to address counterintelligence or counterterrorism concerns during overseas deployments.
Additionally, the OIG recommended that the LAPD require an after-training evaluation report for each foreign training activity, completed by participants and reviewed and approved by their commanding officer.
Nevertheless, the OIG did not identify any security risks associated with the foreign training activities.