A Thunder Bay police officer says has a new appreciation for policing in Canada after training Palestinian police officers.

Inspector Lorne Clifford spent a year helping establish the Jericho Police Training School in Jerusalem, a project that’s part of International Peace Operations under the auspices of the European Union and Canada.

Thunder Bay Police Inspector Lorne Clifford spent a year in the Middle East training police officers there. (Jeff Walters/CBC )

"I think the level of tolerance that I have now for situations that are difficult and dangerous is certainly much higher,” Clifford said.

“And certainly [I have] an appreciation for the fact that we live in one of the best countries in the world."

After a presentation he made Tuesday to members of the Thunder Bay Police Services Board, Clifford said the experience in the Middle East was life-changing, and he now has friends from around the world for years to come.

"The level of thanks from the Palestinian authority and from the Palestinian civil police I can't express here,” he said. “These are people that don't have an awful lot of material things.”

Clifford said his typical day in Palestine started around 6:30 a.m. and had to pass through various checkpoints with guards, show identification and deal with seeing automatic weapons repeatedly pointed at him. He said it could take between one and three hours to travel just 20 km.