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ADL Honors Law Enforcement at 14th Annual SHIELD Awards
Washington, D.C. July 1, 2025
ADL’s (the Anti-Defamation League) Washington, D.C. Regional Office honored law enforcement professionals for their exceptional contributions in combatting antisemitism, hate crimes, extremism, and terrorism at its 14th annual SHIELD Awards ceremony, held at the National Press Club on June 20, 2025. The SHIELD Awards are held annually to recognize law enforcement for significant accomplishments protecting the American people. The name of the award is an acronym for the core values of the profession: Service, Honor, Integrity, Excellence, Leadership, and Dedication.
For the first time this year, the SHIELD Awards included a luncheon program featuring ADL expertise at a regional and national level: Shelby Gadol, ADL D.C. Assistant Regional Director of Incident Response and Law Enforcement Partnerships; Meredith R. Weisel, Vice President of State and Local Advocacy, and Steve Gonzalez, Vice President of Global Security and Safety. This program provided attendees with key insights into trends in antisemitism, hate, and extremism and strategies for protecting communities.
“ADL and law enforcement share a commitment to keeping communities safe. It is an honor to celebrate what these amazing agencies are doing to fight hate and antisemitism,” remarked Ms. Gadol. “The event served not only as a reminder of the importance of our partnerships with law enforcement, but how vital these relationships are to ADL’s work.”
The 2025 ADL SHIELD Award recipients included both sworn law enforcement officials and civilian personnel who demonstrated unwavering efforts to combat antisemitism, hate, and extremism in our communities. This year’s recipients included:
This year’s recipients included:
The members of the Anne Arundel County Police Department, Fairfax County Police Department, Prince William County Police Department, FBI Washington Field Office, and U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia for their swift, coordinated response to a planned shooting at a Northern Virginia Church, leading to the safe arrest and sentencing of a hate-motivated individual, averting a potential mass tragedy – possibly with moments to spare.
Virginia Secretary of Public Safety Terrance Cole for his leadership in resolving an unlawful, antisemitic protest encampment outside the home of a Biden administration cabinet member. Despite jurisdictional and political challenges, his coordination with state and local agencies led to the encampment’s lawful removal, restoring safety and dignity to the affected family and surrounding community.
The members of the FBI Baltimore Squad Ct-1, FBI Tampa Domestic Terrorism Squad, and United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland who worked tirelessly to prevent a racially motivated extremist with accelerationist ideologies, and collaborator, from acting upon a plot to disable Baltimore’s power grid, preventing a potentially catastrophic hate-driven attack.
The SHIELD Awards ceremony is one of ADL D.C.’s premier events honoring law enforcement and one of ADL’s most powerful and inspiring initiatives. The SHIELD Awards are made possible through the generosity of Jared O. Blum & Family.
ADL is the leading anti-hate organization in the world. Founded in 1913, its timeless mission is “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” Today, ADL continues to fight all forms of antisemitism and bias, using innovation and partnerships to drive impact. A global leader in combating antisemitism, countering extremism and battling bigotry wherever and whenever it happens, ADL works to protect democracy and ensure a just and inclusive society for all.
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