On behalf of the Rutgers Miller Center on Policing, I’m both humbled and honored to have led another international law enforcement delegation to participate in this year’s International March of the Living Event this week in Poland. For various reasons, this has been the most powerful March yet. Marching with me from my home state representing the New Jersey State Police was Col. Patrick Callahan, Superintendent, Lt. Col. Sean Kilcomons, Dept. Superintendent, Lt. Adam Grossman, SGT. 1st Class Marc Zislin, TPR I Mudduser Malik, and TPR I Marlena Banko. Also from New Jersey was Paul M. Cell, Exec. Director of IACLEA, Superintendent Edward Cetnar from the NY/NJ Port Authority Police, and Professor David Weiss from Rutger University Miller Center. I was also joined by senior leadership from agencies around North America and Europe, such as St. Charles Parish, LA Sheriff Greg Champagne, President of the National Sheriffs’ Association, Las Vegas PD Deputy Chief Sasha Larkin, RCMP A/Commissioner Brigitte Gauvin, City of Henderson PD Chief Hollie Chadwick, and Marvin Haiman., Rutgers Miller Center Visiting Fellow and former Chief of Staff for the DC Metro PD, and RU Senior Fellow Mark Genatempo. This interfaith group exemplifies how our community’s law enforcement officers can model understanding both within our ranks and with the populations they serve.
Together with thousands of participants including Holocaust survivors, heads of state, government officials, students, and other members of civil society committed to countering anti-Semitism, hatred, and targeted violence, our group joined the 3.5-kilometer March from Auschwitz to Birkenau.
As anti-Semitism has risen sharply in the last 6 months on college campuses and in cities across the globe, this year’s March was particularly notable, as the Holocaust survivors were joined by recent survivors of the October 7th, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas; the worst act of murder committed against the Jewish people since World War II. October 7th survivors (some of whom were Holocaust survivors themselves) shared their tragic stories on that fateful day, further underscoring how the words ‘Never Again’ are both so important and fragile.
As part of our delegation’s commitment and declaration at last year’s March of the Living, we pledged to operationalize the words ‘Never Again’ by developing a transnational training program for law enforcement executives that combines best practices addressing Holocaust awareness and hate crimes training.
The day after this year’s March, our police leaders convened for a facilitated working session to lay the groundwork for that Holocaust awareness and hate crimes training program. I co-facilitated the session with Ben Haiman, which included presentations by Dirk Allaerts, EUROPOL’s Fundamental Rights Officer, RU Prof. David Weiss, and Pascal Comvalius, representing the Erickson Mediation Institute based in The Hague.
Rutgers Press Release: https://shorturl.at/eoTV7