North Miami Beach Police Chief, William B. "Bill" Berger, is currently the President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). He is the first native Floridian President and the fourth Chief elected from Florida law enforcement. The IACP includes Chiefs of Police from every inhabited continent on the globe. As the President, Chief Berger is called upon as an advisor from the White House to many foreign governments. His role helps bring modem policing methods to under developed countries and often this includes traveling to assist them with a hands on approach.

Prior to becoming President of the IACP, Chief Berger established a laundry list of professional accomplishments starting as a Police Officer with the City of Miami Police Department, working patrol in some of Miami's toughest areas. He quickly rose through the ranks and attained the rank of Captain overseeing the Homicide Unite. He retired in 1989 and joined the North Miami Beach Police Department as Chief. Chief Berger immediately took on the initiative of modernizing his new department. Now North Miami Beach is recognized as one of the most innovative agencies in technology and community oriented policing. Other departments from across the United States, Europe, Asia, South America and the Bahamas have traveled to North Miami Beach to train and observe the daily operation of the department.

In addition to his current position as IACP President and North Miami Beach Police Chief, Chief Berger is the Past-President of the Florida Police Chiefs Association and the North Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce. He also aided in developing and now hosts "COPNET" which is a nationwide police oriented radio program. Chief Berger holds a BS, MS, and is a graduate of the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University where he received the prestigious Pickwick Fellowship. Presently, the Chief attends the Shepard Broad Law Center of Nova Southeastern University where he is a third year law student. Even with the demanding schedule he must keep, the Chief still manages to make time for his family, which consists of his wife Denise and their five children.

Chief Berger is a local boy who complemented the quality of the North Miami Police Department and congratulated the Officer of the Year, Detective Xerxes Callahan. His speech focused on the role of the International Association of Chief of Police (IACP), which he now heads.

The organization came together 108 years ago. The first success was in developing a way to unify the collection and analysis of fingerprints. That has grown into the FBI national data base. IACP has over 1900 members from all over the world, including Mainland China. Their goal is to enhance Law Enforcement worldwide.

On 9/11 Chief Berger and his family got off a plane that had been one of the hundred flights brought to abrupt ends that morning. He was told the Pentagon had been bombed, causing him to imagine a world war. When he went to Ground Zero, where 75 Law Enforcement and over 300 Fire Department personnel perished, he realized it is a world war where civilians are Front-line troops, simply because they are Americans.

The enemy is unique in their willingness to sacrifice themselves just to kill Americans. They believe they will gain their version of Heaven by killing Americans. This concept can not be forgotten in regard the prisoners being kept in Guantanamo Bay. Reporters bemoaning the prisoner's rights should realize that these prisoners' conditions are 10 times better than what they had in Afghanistan. The reports should also realize that any American around these fanatics are in danger of dying so the prisoner can go to heaven.

Chief Berger also voiced his real fears of an internal threat posed by groups who oppose our laws, taxes, and large institutions and who see American Law Enforcement as the enemy. These groups have been called "Hate Groups". Some of them applauded the 9/11 attacks on their websites.

One leader of such a group published the Turner Diaries, which is a blue print to overthrow this county through civil unrest and insurrection. Two acts of violence suggested in this book were to park a rental truck filled with explosives next to a Federal Building (i.e. Oklahoma City) and another was to fly a fully fueled airplane into the Empire State Building. This is only one indication of how close American and foreign hate/terrorist groups think.

When downtown Seattle was destroyed by these internal hate groups, Law Enforcement realized how dangerous they had become. They had superior communications over local Law Enforcement and efficient tactical techniques designed to create grid locks to tie up the city. Police in Washington DC and in Quebec, Canada had learned their lessons from Seattle. During similar demonstrations, Washington had 1400 police on the streets while Quebec had 1700 officers. Some of these American bred protesters are trained at sites located in Florida, according to Chief Berger.

One required response to this growing threat is not to underestimate the enemy. Every American should be aware of the problems. Every American should report suspicious situations. Law Enforcement must work together in developing more efficient means of collecting and sharing intelligence between themselves and with the public. Chief Berger believes that Law Enforcement wears one badge and the efforts of national, state, local, and foreign Law Enforcement personnel should strive for efficient coordination of intelligence gathering and dissemination. In this regard, the Chief said the FBI was concentrating on getting more clearances to local Law Enforcement personnel, so they can see high level intelligence data.

The Chief also related his belief that those Police and Fire Department personnel who are the first to respond to any terrorist attack, including chemical, biological, and nuclear must be immediately provided all the resources needed from innoculations and antidotes to equipment and tools.

Thank you Chief Berger for expanding our understanding of the threat and the International Association of Chiefs of Police.