Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Security Professionals Travel to Israel

PHILADELPHIA – Jan. 31. The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia is hosting an educational trip to Israel in February on anti-terror security for Philadelphia and Pennsylvania state law enforcement, security and public service officials. The trip is made possible as a result of the generous contribution from US Security Care, Inc. The trip’s itinerary focuses on Israel’s anti-terror security procedures, facilities, and response tactics -- providing valuable information and hands-on experiences that can help enhance local homeland security and medical facility preparedness.

 
The trip was organized by Federation’s Government Affairs Department and Center for Israel and Overseas, and is being underwritten by US Security Care, Inc. It is a community outreach initiative that will provide a unique opportunity for professionals who are responsible for local and Commonwealth security to learn from the experiences of Israel’s anti-terror and emergency response programs.




“Israel’s leadership in security preparedness and effectiveness is recognized worldwide," said Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell. “Now our security professionals will have a unique opportunity to meet with key security officials in Israel, exchange information and receive hands-on experience to learn anti-terror security measures that can significantly benefit Pennsylvania’s homeland security programs.” The professionals will learn about Israeli civil security programs that include sophisticated patrol protocols, and electronic and video security monitoring techniques and facilities.

“Having been to Israel myself in 2004, I know how valuable this trip will be for our personnel,” said Col. Jeffrey B. Miller, Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police. “The insight and information that our people bring back will help increase the overall level of security in Pennsylvania and the region.”

“The Philadelphia Police Department appreciates and looks forward to the opportunity to meet with Israel's anti-terror experts,” said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson. “The officials traveling to Israel for this program will enhance our Department's ability to combat terrorism. In the spirit of international cooperation, this security mission will benefit all of the residents in the region.”
 

The week-long program will begin upon arrival in Israel on February 12, 2006, with a meeting with airport security officials on Israel’s airport security procedures and measures. During the week, the security professionals will meet with an Israeli expert on radical Islam and terrorism and receive security briefings and tours from several municipal and military security representatives. This includes visits with security officials at the Seam Line in the West Bank, the Golan, Nabi Mari (overlooking Gaza), Netivot, and Jerusalem. They will also accompany the Civil Guard Police Force on a patrol in Jerusalem.



The group will tour the Israel Center for Medical Simulation -- Chaim Sheba Medical Center of the Tel Hashomer Hospital and experience its simulation program on how victims are treated after a suicide bombing. The Center’s “virtual hospital” trains doctors, nurses and paramedics through sophisticated simulation of trauma and diagnostic protocols. It is a one-of-a-kind program and is internationally viewed as a model teaching method. They will also meet with Dr. Avi Rifkind, Head of Trauma Department at Hadassah Hospital, the foremost trauma expert in Israel. Dr. Rifkind has participated in the International Conference on Terrorism and Disaster Preparedness at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

The program also includes visits to the historic Christian Quarter, the Jewish Quarter, the Dead Sea area, the caves of Qumran, Massada, and the Holocaust memorial in Yad Vashem.

 
A mensch-in-the-making, his great aunt had pronounced on the day of his bar mitzvah.

It wasn't just his flawless Hebrew. Or that he looked so all-American in his midnight blue suit from Barneys with his sandy- blond curls combed flat beneath his yarmulke.

What had mesmerized his aunt was Jeffrey Miller's magnetism as he greeted all the relatives who had trooped out from the city to the Temple Gates of Zion Synagogue in Valley Stream that morning in January 1964. "'Such a wonderful boy. He spoke to me for 25 minutes. Those blue eyes just sparkle at you when he's talking,'" his mother, Joyce Miller, recalls her saying. God willing, she added, he'd grow up to be a doctor or a lawyer and bring his parents naches - Yiddish for joy.
 

Meteoric rise

  

 

Biography

Colonel Jeffrey B. Miller was nominated by Governor Edward G. Rendell to serve as the 18th Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police on Jan. 9, 2003. 

He serves on the board or as a member of a number of law enforcement organizations, including the Municipal Police Officers Education and Training Commission and the Governor’s Homeland Security Executive Cabinet and Advisory Council. A native of Harrisburg, Colonel Miller holds an Associate’s Degree from the University of South Florida; a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Elizabethtown College; and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the Pennsylvania State University

. He also has extensive training in law enforcement. Colonel Miller is an adjunct professor of Criminal Justice at Elizabethtown College, a certified municipal police instructor with the Municipal Police Officers’ Education and Training Commission and an adjunct faculty member of the School of Police Staff and Command at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Colonel Miller enlisted in the Pennsylvania State Police in July 1984. Following Academy graduation, he served as a Trooper at the Bedford, York, and Harrisburg Stations. He was promoted to Corporal in 1988, Sergeant in 1990, Lieutenant in 1993, Captain in 1995 and Major in January 2002. He served as the Criminal Investigation Section Commander at Troop K, Philadelphia, and as the Station Commander at Troop L, Schuylkill Haven prior to being named the Commanding Officer at Troop H, Harrisburg by Colonel Paul J. Evanko in 1995. Colonel Miller was assigned as the Director of Legislative Affairs for the Department in March of 2000.