Danino: The day we see a female chief of police is not far off

Police chief's comments come in the wake of a series of scandals involving senior police commanders accused of sexual misconduct.

By BEN HARTMAN
Yohanan Danino (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Yohanan Danino
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The day is not far off when a female officer will lead the Israel Police, Insp.-Gen. Yohanan Danino said Thursday.
The comments, which he made at a graduation ceremony for police cadets in Shfaram, came in the wake of several scandals involving senior police commanders accused of sexual misconduct.
“Not long from now, we will see many women with the rank of assistant-chief, and not long after that, a female chief of police,” Danino said.
He noted that the class of graduates included 16 women who had finished the officers’ course – the largest number so far in a single class. This happened, he said, “because the Israel Police has made equality between the sexes and the advancement of women in the organization into goals.”
Danino’s comments came amid reports that he and Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch had contacted Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein and requested that he allow them to promote a series of new officers to the rank of assistant-chief – the highest rank below national police chief. Among the names that have come up is Dep.-Ch. Gila Gaziel, today the head of the police’s manpower department.
On Wednesday, Danino fired his second-in-command, Asst.-Ch. Nissim Mor, days after news broke that a sexual misconduct investigation had been opened against him following a complaint from a female subordinate.
Mor thus became the seventh officer with the rank of assistant-chief to resign or be fired amid scandal in less than a year and a half. At least three of those resigned or were fired because of sexual misconduct complaints.