Edri disciplinary hearing held on Shaham complaint

Police commander accused of not passing along to internal affairs a complaint he received against J'lem police head Shaham.

By MELANIE LIDMAN
Nisso Shacham 390 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Nisso Shacham 390
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
The senior police officer who failed to report suspected sexual harassment by Jerusalem police head Asst.- Ch. Nisso Shaham had his disciplinary hearing on Monday.
The Justice Ministry decided two weeks ago that Zion precinct head Dep. Ch. Nissim Edri would not face criminal charges.
Disciplinary officers questioned him on Monday as to why he did not pass on concerns about Shaham’s alleged sexual misconduct against female officers, as required by law.
Zion police precinct head Dep.-Ch. Nissim Edri had his disciplinary hearing on Monday, for his failure to report Jerusalem Police head Asst.- Ch. Nisso Shaham’s alleged sexual misconduct against female officers.
Cmdr. Lily Baumhaker, head of the police’s disciplinary unit, will present her findings to the human resources department, which will then pass them on to Insp.-Gen. Yohanan Danino.
Danino is to decide whether Edri will remain in his position.
Both Edri and Shaham were placed on forced leave on July 26, when the Justice Ministry’s Police Investigations Department announced a month-long undercover investigation of Shaham.
Shaham is suspected of sexual harassment and improper sexual relations with as many as five policewomen.
On Monday, Edri refused to speak with reporters as he entered Israel Police headquarters in Jerusalem.
“We must let the disciplinary process take its course, I am optimistic, and he is also optimistic,” said Edri’s lawyer, Zion Amir, on his way into the building. Edri is expected to ask to continue in his position as precinct head and to deny all wrongdoing.
According to the Justice Ministry, which handled the initial investigation, 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 (Police Investigations Department) investigation, raise suspicions of a number of instances of disciplinary misconduct,” a source in the PID said.
On August 2, the Justice Ministry transferred the case to the Jerusalem Police for an internal disciplinary hearing.
The PID decided that Edri’s conduct did not warrant criminal charges.