NYPD detective in Israel seen as boost to counterterrorism efforts in NYC

A detective based in Israel has been able to provide timely information that has allowed his NYPD colleagues to better protect New York City as war rages on, a top department official said Monday.

Detective Charlie Benaim, part of the NYPD’s International Liaison Program, said he works closely with various Israeli law enforcement agencies, most notably the Israeli national police, to relay to 1 Police Plaza timely intel, “so that way our executives can have a good understanding of what’s going on in Israel and how things that are happening here may impact our city.”

Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence & Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner, speaking during a Zoom call with reporters and with Benhaim, who was in an office in central Israel, said any overseas terror attack always prompts what she called “the New York question.”

“What would this attack look like it it were to happen in New York?” she said. “How can we protect New York City better? What lessons can we learn from these jurisdictions around the world on how to better protect New York City?”

Weiner said, without adding specifics, that Benaim’s intel enabled the NYPD to “surge resources based on what we’re seeing overseas to protect New York’s infrastructure.”

He has been in Israel for 16 years, four years before the NYPD first started its liaison program. Funded by the Police Foundation, it sends cops to 16 posts around the world, all but three outside the United States.

Benaim said he’s been out of harm’s way and that life in many ways goes on as normal outside the conflict zones.

Weiner said that while New York City remains on high alert, there are “no credible threats.”