Criminal case closed against senior cop who sexually harassed subordinates

Dotan will face a disciplinary process where he will confess to sexual harassment and to inappropriate behavior “that harms the image of the Israel Police”.

By BEN HARTMAN
Updated: FEBRUARY 25, 2016 00:47
The Justice Ministry will not pursue a criminal case against former Coastal District commander Hagai Dotan, who was fired last February for sexual misconduct, but it will instead recommend he face disciplinary charges, the ministry announced Wednesday.
The ministry’s Police Investigative Department said Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with Dotan’s attorney, according to which he will face a disciplinary process where he will confess to sexual harassment and to inappropriate behavior “that harms the image of the Israel Police.”
Dotan admitted during the ministry’s investigation that he made sexual advances to a number of female subordinates, including saying to one: “I’m dying to kiss you.” In one case, he had sexual relations with a female subordinate at the same time that he was her direct supervisor.
The ministry said the reasons the disciplinary process is sufficient are: Dotan already took responsibility for his actions and spared the witnesses from having to testify; he was already fired by the police; and his acts of harassment were strictly verbal and not “especially severe.”
In addition, it said that the age difference between him and the subordinate was not very significant and that there was no evidence that he made any decisions regarding her employment at the time of their relationship.
Dotan was fired last February along with Beersheba station chief Cmdr. Moshe Ivgy, the latter following a complaint that he sexually harassed a pregnant woman.
At the time, Dotan was the eighth officer with the rank of assistant chief – the second highest in the police force – to be dismissed or to resign over the course of a year-anda- half for sexual misconduct.
In an interview with Army Radio on Wednesday, Dotan’s daughter Shiri said that “it could be that he told a cop, ‘I’d really like to kiss you,’ no one is proud of that, but to turn that into all of these huge headlines in the papers of him being a serial harasser, sexual assaults, and then to discard him from his job and the life he led?”