Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner had planned to go to Israel with five deputies for counterterrorism training. Deadly strikes between Israel and Iran put a halt to that. But questions remain about the controversial training — which is similar to what Israel has offered to other law enforcement agencies across the nation.
Skinner said at a recent Collin County commissioners’ court meeting that the Israeli National Police invited the Sheriff’s Office to Israel for the counterterrorism training. Collin County’s commissioners balked at paying for the trip — or even extending line-of-duty death benefits for Skinner and the deputies.
So the sheriff and the deputies had planned to use vacation time for the trip. And one of Skinner’s major campaign contributors — who serves as the unpaid assistant chief over the department’s reserve deputy program — volunteered to foot the $70,000 to $80,000 bill.
The training invitation to the Collin County Sheriff’s Office came at a time when many universities are grappling with the aftermath of student-led encampments supporting Palestinians, including protesters at the University of Texas Dallas campus in Collin County.
And Muslim residents in the region have faced a rise in Islamophobia and unsubstantiated accusations of terrorism as the state and federal government scrutinize a proposed Muslim housing development called EPIC City that would be located in unincorporated Collin County.
Some community leaders and human rights organizations are wary of training offered by Israel to U.S. law enforcement agencies who may be called upon to intervene in backlash against Muslims, or already have — and in the midst of military operations in Gaza.
Amnesty International and other human rights organizations and advocacy groups have accused Israeli police of committing human rights violations.
Mustafaa Carroll, the executive director of the Dallas Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR DFW) questioned why the Collin County Sheriff agreed to the training in the first place.
“Why would you go and train with a country or train with the military that has known human rights and abuses?” Carroll said. “We have enough issues with that right here without that training."
Skinner said at a commissioners’ court meeting learning about counterterrorism from the Israeli National Police will enhance public safety in the county.
"They're probably the best in the world at it, and we're going to benefit from that and take those lessons home and apply that here to help make our citizens more safe," he said.
Established Practice
Deb Armintor, a spokesperson for the Dallas Fort Worth chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, said Sheriff Skinner isn’t the first American law enforcement member to train in Israel.
"He is participating in a very deadly and long-standing tradition of exchange of violent and racist, oppressive police tactics between U.S. Law enforcement and the Israeli military,” Armintor said.
Jewish Voice for Peace, which was founded in 1996, describes itself as a progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization according to its website. The group advocates for Palestinian liberation. The Anti-Defamation League, which Armintor said promotes pro-Israel propaganda, describes the group as a “radical anti-Israel” activist organization on its website.
The ADL, which was founded in 1913 to combat antisemitism, has sponsored law enforcement trips to Israel since 2004. The organization helped coordinate the Collin County Sheriff’s trip to Israel for counterterrorism training according to an email from the Collin County Open Records Office.
The ADL declined to comment when KERA reached out for this story.
Jewish Voice for Peace and Researching the American Israeli Alliance released a report called “Deadly Exchange” in 2018 outlining the history and impact of the practice, which dates back to aftermath of 9/11. Participants in the training learn about the Israel military’s surveillance techniques, racial profiling and protest suppression according to the report.
The United States has a long history of supporting Israel and providing weapons to the country. Carroll said America has a double standard regarding Israel and its human rights abuses.
"Would the police go to Russia to learn their tactics for handling terrorism or learning from North Korea or any of these other despotic states or regimes? No,” he said.
The seminars in Israel consists of briefings, presentations, site visits and insights into preventing and responding to terrorism according to the ADL’s website. The ADL’s website said the trips it sponsors includes no tactical training and denied the accusations in the Deadly Exchange report.
“There has been systematic racism in the U.S. for centuries, and it exists within our law enforcement and criminal justice systems,” The website states. “These problems were not imported to the U.S.”
Jonathan Thompson, the executive director and CEO of the National Sheriffs’ Office Association, attended a counterterrorism training in Israel shortly after the October 7 attacks. Thompson said critics of the training are misguided.
"They are uneducated, fools and naïve at best,” he said.
Thompson said American law enforcement agencies adapt what they learn in Israel to the laws of the U.S. Constitution and their states’ laws.
“Trying to be critical of these types of interactions is really suspect, because I don't think anybody with a reasonable mind can look at these types of exercises in these cross-training exercises as anything other than trying to keep the people of this country safe, given that we have an open society,” he said.
Skinner said in an email to the Collin County commissioners the trip to Israel would serve a public safety purpose and include tours of public-security facilities, lectures, training and lessons learned from the attacks on October 7, 2023.
Thompson said law enforcement agencies can combat misconceptions about Israel's counterterrorism training with transparency.
“If you're not willing to talk about your tactics and techniques, then you're going to find yourselves with a very large population that is uninformed, scared, naïve in their own understanding of what's going on,” he said.
The sheriff shared the exact agenda with commissioners privately. KERA requested a copy of all communications between the Sheriff’s Office and county commissioners and staff regarding the trip under the Texas Public Information Act. Collin County sent the request to the Attorney General’s Office for a ruling on whether any responsive records may be withheld from public disclosure.
Community Concerns
The Collin County Sheriff’s Office was part of the law enforcement response to a student-led encampment last spring on the University of Texas at Dallas campus in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
At least 20 people were arrested after armed officers, including Texas Department of Public Safety troopers equipped with face shields, batons and zip ties entered the crowd and began making arrests, according to witness accounts and live video streamed from the scene.
A Collin County grand jury indicted 14 of the protesters in April. The protestors are charged with obstruction of a passageway, a Class B misdemeanor, according to a release from the Collin County District Attorney's office. It's punishable by up to 180 days in jail, a $2,000 fine or community supervision.
It’s not clear what prompted the arrests at the encampment. Carroll said the Collin County Sheriff’s Office treated protesters unfairly.
“I think that they are viewing these protesters as if they are combatants,” he said.
The Collin County Sheriff’s Office told KERA via email the counterterrorism training isn’t related to any local developments or issues.
Broadened Definition
Shortly after his inauguration, President Donald Trump designated cartels and other transnational organizations as foreign terrorists. Designating groups as terrorists can help direct law enforcement action and denies access to the U.S. financial system according to the U.S. State Department.
Given the broadened definition of terrorism under the Trump administration, Thompson said law enforcement agencies would benefit from training with countries like Israel that have experience combating terrorism.
"It's a little bit like the old adage, why do you rob banks? Because that's where the money is,” he said. “Why do you train with Israel or Germany? That's where experience is."
External Funding
Collin County Judge Chris Hill and other county commissioners had praised the training Israel offered. But the county declined to sponsor the trip. County staff determined the travel was outside the scope and duties of Sheriff’s Office personnel.
Instead, Cary Platt, an assistant chief with the Sheriff’s Reserve Unit, said he would fund the trip’s expenses. Platt, who is an unpaid volunteer, has previously pledged thousands of dollars to Skinner’s election campaign in the past, including $20,000 in 2023.
He listed his occupation as a self-employed real estate entrepreneur according to a 2023 campaign finance report. Platt joined the Collin County Sheriff's Office in 2016 according Texas Commission on Law Enforcement records. Before that, he was a reserve officer at the Dallas County Sheriff's Office from 2002-2016.
KERA reached out to Platt via email for an interview for this story. Platt said he would do the interview after the trip is completed. The Sheriff's Office told KERA via email it is still unclear if the training will be rescheduled as of this story's publication.
The Sheriff originally asked the county to accept Platt’s offer on his behalf so the deputies who had planned to accompany him would be eligible for workers' comp.
Families of Collin County law enforcement officers who are killed in the line of duty are eligible for payment under workers' comp for full pay and medical insurance. Children of law enforcement officers are eligible until they’re 18 years old.
But the deputies and their families wouldn’t have been eligible for workers' comp benefits since the county wouldn’t sponsor the trip. Commissioner Susan Fletcher said at a recent commissioners’ court meeting Skinner told the deputies to instruct their families to sue the county for line-of duty death benefits if necessary.
“You threatened me with that to get my support on this, and I'm not happy about it, because I'm not going to put our taxpayers at risk,” Fletcher said. “It’s not right.”
Skinner denied Fletcher’s accusation and apologized for the miscommunication. He said he was advocating for his employees.
“I am passionate when it comes to my people,” Skinner said. “I’m passionate when it comes to protecting citizens of this county.”
Heightened Danger
Fletcher said during a commissioners’ court meeting ahead of the scheduled trip she had concerns about safety.
“There’s a reason we have policies, and there’s a reason that we say no to these international trips, especially to a war zone,” she said.
Fletcher made that comment at a public meeting on June 9. The Israel Defense Forces announced strikes on military targets in Iran on social media in the evening on June 12. The sheriff and deputies were scheduled to be in Israel for the training from June 15 to June 20.
It’s unclear if the sheriff’s trip to Israel will be rescheduled or canceled indefinitely. But tensions in the Middle East continue, even under the new ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
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