Danino ousts Edri for not reporting harassment claim

Israel Police Insp.-Gen. Yohanan Danino on Sunday dismissed the senior police officer who failed to report the suspected sexual harassment and misconduct of Jerusalem police head Asst.-Ch. Nisso Shaham earlier this year.

Danino summoned Zion police precinct head Dep.-Ch. Nissim Edri to his offices on Sunday morning and informed him of the dismissal.

Danino also informed Edri that he will be tried in the Police Disciplinary Court, an internal police court.

Both Edri and Shaham were placed on forced leave on July 26, when the Justice Ministry’s Police Investigations Department (PID) announced a monthlong undercover investigation of Shaham’s actions toward a number of policewomen.

According to the Justice Ministry, which handled the initial investigation over the summer, Edri originally refused to cooperate with the probe and denied he had any knowledge of the harassment complaints.

Only toward the end of the investigation, when he was confronted by the officer who had originally informed him of the suspected harassment, did Edri admit that he had heard of the allegations but had not passed them on to the proper authorities, as required by law.

“The senior officer’s conduct – his failure to pass on the complaint that was reported to him for investigation, as is required and expected under the circumstances – as well as his conduct during the PID investigation, raise suspicions of a number of instances of disciplinary misconduct,” a source in the PID said.

However, the PID decided that Edri’s conduct did not warrant criminal charges. On August 2, the Justice Ministry transferred the case to the Jerusalem Police for an internal disciplinary hearing. Edri had his initial disciplinary hearing on August 14.

The point of the initial disciplinary hearing was for Danino to receive recommendations from Cmdr. Lily Baumhaker, head of the police’s disciplinary unit, and the human resources department, as to whether or not Edri should continue in his position.

Danino will announce a replacement for Edri as the head of the Zion precinct in the coming days.