Metropolitan Police Department: Chief Ramsey Addresses New Members of the MPDC

The lessons of this period are certainly sober ones. But the Holocaust does provide some wonderful illustrations of what can happen when police officers do stand up in the face of evil and intolerance. And that's an important lesson as well.

Unlike local police in many of the other countries the Nazis invaded, the Danish police (along with Hungarian police and others) refused to cooperate with the invading military. Just the opposite, in fact: Danish police actively organized and participated in rescue efforts that spared the lives of all but 51 of the estimated 7,200 Jews who were living in Denmark at the time. For police officers today, the heroism and bravery of the Danish police offer a real-life story of the impact we can have in preserving rights and saving lives. But we can have an impact only when our officers are part of the communities they serve … when we share the values of those communities … and when we remain forever true to those values and to the values of our profession. So there is a lesson of hope in this training as well.

I have spoken this evening about the "big picture" lessons that our recruits explore in the Holocaust training program. And they are very important lessons. But before I close, I want to mention one other lesson that our recruits pick up from the day they spend here at the Museum. It is a much more intimate and personal lesson. It is a lesson in how to deal with our own personal prejudices - in our very public jobs as police officers.

Nobody enters this profession without some prejudices. It's human nature. And police officers are, after all, human beings too. I think it's ironic that officers often talk about the differences between themselves and "civilians." I love to point out the fact that before any of us put on the uniform and badge, we too were "civilians." And to this day, we are still not all that different from the "civilians" we serve. What that means, of course, is that we come to this job with certain preconceptions about people … certain stereotypes … and, yes, certain prejudices.

This training program forces our recruits to confront those highly personal feelings in a very compelling, but supportive way. Nobody is asked to publicly confess any prejudices they may hold. But I think any person who walks through this Museum or goes through our training would be hard-pressed not to go home and take a deep look inside themselves, at their own attitudes and values. I know I do each time I visit here. And because our recruits take this introspective journey early on in their careers, I am convinced they start off being more aware and more tolerant than they might otherwise have been.

Tonight, I have focused on the history of this training program and the positive impact it is having on our recruit training. I want to close by offering you a vision of where I hope this program may go in the future. Thus far, the Metropolitan Police Department has incorporated the "Lessons of the Holocaust" into our standard recruit curriculum. And I have taken all of my Command Staff through a condensed version of the training, so they can be exposed to what our new officers are learning. But we shouldn't stop there, with a one-time program. The issues and lessons this training covers are so complex, so profound and so relevant that we need to have our experienced officers participate in periodic "refresher courses" if you will.

Next year, I hope to include the "Lessons of the Holocaust" as part of the regular 40-hour, in-service training that all of our officers now complete on an annual basis. And I would like to incorporate this program into our training for newly promoted sergeants, lieutenants, captains and Command Staff members as well. I would like to see the other law enforcement agencies now participating in this program follow suit.

But as we move forward, I think we need to look beyond the field of policing … and think of ways to incorporate the lessons of the Holocaust into the training for other professions as well. For while the police played a central role in carrying out the Holocaust, they by no means did it alone. It took the involvement and complicity of many others - lawyers, judges, teachers, doctors, the clergy and more. All doctors, for example, take the Hippocratic oath pledging, above all else, to work to cure disease and save lives. But during the Holocaust, doctors on a routine basis conducted unbelievably cruel and vicious experiments on other human beings.

So just as police officers during the Holocaust lost touch with the communities they served and the oaths they took, so, too, did countless members of other professions. I think it is time for the leaders of these professions to look at how they, too, could use this Museum to help train better doctors, lawyers, judges, teachers, clergy members and other professionals for the 21st Century. For members of these professions, the lessons of the Holocaust are just as powerful and relevant as they have proven to be for our police officers.

I want to thank you once again for the honor of being your speaker tonight. And thank you for your continued support of this Museum and the outstanding educational programs it provides, in partnership with such fine groups such as the ADL and others. Just as the Danish police made such a difference in their communities by supporting the Resistance, so, too, are all of you making a difference in our community - by supporting this Museum and the incredible lessons it holds for all of us. Thank you very much.