Police instructor sentenced for indecent acts on female trainees

Officer exploited his seniority, and the physical closeness to trainees inherent in a course on shooting, in order to commit indecent acts to junior officers.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Police car370 (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Police car370
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
The Court spokesman announced on Monday that the Kfar Saba Magistrate’s Court has sentenced a police shooting instructor to 18 months in prison for indecent acts and sexual harassment against his younger female police-trainees.
The decision, which also included compensation of NIS 2,000 to each complainant and an additional fine of NIS 2,000, was handed down last Wednesday, but only distributed to the press Monday; following a separate decision by the court to permit certain details to be publicized.
The name of the convicted police officer and the victims are still under gag order.
The convicted officer’s role with the police was, among other things, to give refresher and improvement courses in shooting at the police academy for operational fitness.
In several instances the officer exploited his seniority, and the physical closeness to trainees inherent in a course on shooting, in order to commit indecent acts to junior officers.
In the sentencing order, the court emphasized the severity of the officer’s actions, stating that “the accused’s acts were ugly, shameful and severe,” noting that he continued even after the younger policewomen “resisted his actions in various ways.”
It said that he had harmed the policewomen’s “bodies and souls, their dignity and their autonomy.”
The court also said that the officer’s committing of these crimes on young policewomen, who were serving in the framework of IDF-related police roles (to fulfill their obligatory military service), made the crimes even worse.
The court said that because of this context, such incidents could also negatively impact army and police recruitment.