I would like to be remembered as the police chief who improved service to the public.
By YAAKOV KATZThe Jerusalem Post: Your predecessor Shlomo Aharonishky was memorialized as the “terror police chief.†Do you think you will be remembered as the “disengagement police chief?â€Moshe Karadi: Firstly, anyone can choose how to remember me. I cannot ignore the fact that the disengagement was a historic event on a national level that will be remembered hopefully positively. I am only a year in the job... and, since I have several years left, I would like to be remembered as the police chief who improved the service to the public and succeeded in fighting crime. That is something we need to do. I want the police to be a better service provider.
Following disengagement, do you feel the police's image has been soiled by your participation in the evacuation?
I have no doubt that the police gained from this. Had I known what I know now, I should have fought a year ago for the police to play a role in disengagement. The final result improved the police's image and put us high up compared to other organizations. We were lower in the past. The public and people abroad were shocked that the police were able to carry out such a mission without violence, injuries and in such a short time without any mishaps.
People saw a police that has the ability to fulfill its missions, and while we are the same police we have been reinvented in the public eye since they now view us differently.
Why do you have six phones in your office?
Take them [laughs]. You can take them all. Just yesterday someone asked me and I told them they could also take them. The problem is that in Israeli culture everyone calls me on my cellular phone so I don't even need a bureau chief and a secretary, never mind six phones.