Close look at daily threat of
violence is sobering for cop
Howell Police Sgt. William Hartung (c), who went to Israel in May to teach community policing at an international seminar in Tel Aviv, got a personal view of the atmosphere of violence that envelops the nation. Here, he stands with two Israeli soldiers at the Israel-Lebanon border.
HOWELL — When Howell Police Sgt. William Hartung went to Israel back in May to teach community policing at an international seminar in Tel Aviv, it was well before the current escalation of violence, but even then a human bomb had detonated about 10 miles away from where he was at the time.
Hartung, 53, a veteran of the Howell police force since 1972, said that when he saw life in Israel for himself, it was strange to think he was there to teach traditional crime prevention, given the unique nature of Israel and the "different level of their problems."
"Soldiers hitchhike with rifles," Hartung reported, adding that after a while, a visitor gets used to the armed presence of soldiers as well as the security cameras which, in the old city of Jerusalem, are everywhere — around 300 altogether, according to the officer.
Hartung, who has been offering instruction at crime prevention workshops in Washington, D.C., for several years, received the invitation to teach in Israel from an Israeli policeman he met while teaching in Washington last year.
Hartung told of seeing not only a pronounced police presence everywhere while he was in the Middle East, but also of the combined effort that has police officers side by side with Israeli soldiers; the knowledge that all of them are armed and ready for terrorist violence was sobering, he said.
Just as jarring, Hartung said, was getting used to "cell phones at one point and Bedouins and camels at another," although, he noted, some of the Bedouin tents had satellite dishes set up.
Hartung visited Bat Yam, Israel, a suburb of Tel Aviv, to teach at a basic crime prevention course being conducted for police officers and civilian members of local crime prevention councils. He characterized the Israeli civilian policing initiatives as proactive neighborhood watch organizations.
He said it was sobering to realize that although the Israeli people faced daily violence and threats of violence that in May had yet to been seen on American soil and were still not a part of the American experience, the police officers still had to deal with "traditional" policing concerns of "ordinary" crime that includes everything from rape and robbery, to drug trafficking and juvenile delinquency.
Hartung’s area of instructional expertise was crime prevention through environmental design.
The Howell sergeant is an award-winning officer who holds a master’s degree in public administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University and is a statewide police science instructor. At present he is a state certified police instructor teaching crime prevention at the Monmouth, Ocean, Burlington, Gloucester, Atlantic, Camden and Bergen County police academies as well as the state Division of Criminal Justice. He is also an adjunct instructor at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft.
At the Israeli conference, Hartung said, he focused on "how environment can impact crime" and the importance of access control and natural surveillance as well as electronic surveillance and prevention through street layout and design.
Hartung said sometimes an important factor in crime prevention initiatives can include factors that may seem insignificant and simple on their face, like keeping shrubbery properly trimmed. He said it is the little things people can do to maintain order that go far to contain damage from circumstances that are out of our control.