J'lem police chief resigns amid harassment charges

Nisso Shaham resigns after forced "leave of absence," replaced by Cmdr. Yossi Prienti as district chief.

By MELANIE LIDMAN
Jerusalem police chief Nisso Shaham 521 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Jerusalem police chief Nisso Shaham 521
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Jerusalem police chief Asst.-Ch. Nisso Shaham, who was accused of sexually harassing a number of policewomen, on Thursday agreed to resign following a request from Insp.- Gen. Yohanan Danino.
Shaham went on forced administrative leave when the allegations broke in late July.
“[Shaham] agreed to leave his position as district chief, taking upon himself the responsibility and understanding that the position needs to be filled at the present moment,” the police spokesman’s unit said in a statement.
Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch accepted Shaham’s resignation.
Current Southern District chief, Asst.-Ch. Yossi Prienti will take over as the new Jerusalem district chief. National police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that Prienti will take over from acting Jerusalem police head Dep.-Ch. Manny Yitzhaki in the next few days and the police will appoint a new chief for the southern district. Yitzhaki is expected to return to oversee the Lahav 433 investigations unit, a post he began just a few days before the allegations broke.
On July 26, the Justice Ministry’s Police Investigations Department announced that it had conducted a months-long undercover probe against Shaham and suspected him of sexual harassment, indecent assault and improper sexual relations.
Shaham went on forced leave pending the completion of the investigation.
Jerusalem Police Zion precinct head Dep.-Ch. Nissim Edri was also placed on leave in connection with his failure to report Shaham’s alleged sexual misconduct against the policewomen.
On August 2, the Justice Ministry transferred Edri’s case to the Jerusalem Police for an internal disciplinary hearing. The Police Investigations Department decided that Edri’s conduct did not warrant criminal charges.
Prienti, a 47-year-old father of two, previously served as the police chief of Beersheba, police chief of the Negev region, deputy chief of the David precinct in Jerusalem, the security advisor to Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, and the commander of the southern region.