Israel Police


The Israel Police is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fighting, traffic control, maintaining public safety, and counter-terrorism. It is under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Public Security.
The Israel Police operates throughout Israel, and the Area C of the West Bank, in all places in which Israel has civilian control.
The National Headquarters of the Israel Police are located at Kiryat HaMemshala in Jerusalem.
In an emergency, the police can be reached by dialing 100 from any telephone in Israel.

History

The Israel Police was established in 1948. It is responsible for public security, maintaining public order, securing public events and rallies, dismantling suspicious objects and explosives, riot and crowd control, law enforcement, crime fighting, detective work, covert operations against drug networks, investigating suspects, road traffic control, operating the Civil Guard, handling civilian complaints, handling youth violence, educational campaigns.
The Israel Police are a professional force, with some 35,000 persons on the payroll. There are also 70,000 Civil Guard volunteers who contribute time to assist officers in their own communities.
The police are divided into the following main divisional groups:
, Yasam
operators

Regional districts

Each policeman is armed with a pistol which he or she usually also carries while off-duty. Also, each patrol car must have at least one long-arm. Police volunteers are usually armed with an M1 Carbine, which they return to the police's armory after they finish their duty. Volunteers who have a gun license may use their own personal handgun as personal defense weapon for their police duty, under the condition that the gun and ammunition type is authorized by the police. Common pistols owned and carried by volunteers include Glock and CZ-75 designs.
Specialized armaments such as automatic rifles, bolt action rifles and non-lethal weapons are assigned according to activity and not on personal basis. Border Guard policemen, however, carry an M16 or M4 rifle as a standard personal weapon and can carry it home while off-duty.

Ranks

Awards and recognition

General CommissionerStart yearEnd year
Yehezkel Sahar19481958
Yosef Nachmias19581964
Pinhas Kopel19641972
Aaron Sela1972
Shaul Rosolio19721976
Haim Tavori19761979
Herzl Shapir1980
Arieh Ivtsan19811985
David Kraus19851990
Yaakov Turner19901993
Rafi Peled19931994
Asaf Hefetz19941997
Yehuda Vilk19982000
Shlomo Aharonishki20012004
Moshe Karadi20042007
Dudi Cohen20072011
Yohanan Danino20112015
Bentsi Sao 20152015
Roni Alsheikh20152018
Moti Cohen 2018

Controversy

A 2014 analysis by Yesh Din questioned the professionalism of the police force of the Judea & Samaria District as only 7.4% of reported attacks by Israeli citizens on Palestinian persons and property had led to indictments.
In 2015, several senior officers resigned due to criminal investigations or accusations of sexual harassment of employees. Five police at the rank of major general resigned in the preceding 18 months amid scandal. The February 2015 announcement that another senior Israel Police officer was under investigation for sexual harassment was criticized by women's and rape victim advocacy groups, who held protests at police headquarters in a number of cities.
In 2015, Haaretz reported that 30% of police are women, but there are no women who have reached the rank of major general.