Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch on Tuesday called for a rise in the salaries of police officers and prison wardens, telling the Knesset's Interior Committee that the situation is untenable.
“A foreign worker makes more in the state of Israel than a police officer”, Aharonovitch said, adding that “while the people in the Finance Ministry sleep soundly at night, police and wardens are working.”
Aharanovitch said the situation must change immediately, in that police officers and prison guards are “not capable of carrying on much longer without being able to buy groceries for the holidays, gifts for their children, or vacations with their loved ones.”
On May 25th 2010, the committee was presented with the findings of a report on complaints issued by police officers and prison guards. The report found that the number one complaint by far was the low salaries.
The salary for a beginning police officer or prison guard in Israel is NIS 4,400 per month. The national minimum wage is 3,850. Salaries rise as police officers and prison guards gain more experience and climb the ranks, but the process is longer and significantly more gradual than in the IDF.
