Danino: All new police recruits required to take polygraph test
Mandate comes after accusations of rampant police corruption and abrupt resignations of 2 senior officers over past 2 weeks.
By DANIEL K. EISENBUDYohanan Danino(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Two days after another senior police official’s abrupt resignation in the last two weeks amid accusations of a corrupt culture, Police Insp.-Gen. Yohanan Danino announced Tuesday that all recruits will be mandated to take a polygraph test before joining the force.The move to harness greater integrity in the beleaguered police force would include creating a department charged with administering the tests, Danino said. Prior to the announcement, background checks have been overseen by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), with rare exceptions.The move comes after Jerusalem District commander Yossi Pariente’s unexpected Sunday resignation, and two weeks after Central District commander Bruno Stein announced his resignation amid corruption allegations.Pariente, a 30-year veteran who was widely believed to be a front-runner to succeed Danino, has patently denied any wrongdoing, claiming his decision stemmed from not wanting to endure the “mudslinging” involved with running for Danino’s spot.“There is… no internal investigation, complaint, anonymous letter or skeleton in the closet,” he said in a statement.“I am a man of hard work [and] I do not want to be a part of this dirty game…. The most important thing for me is to keep my good name.”Apart from the two resignations, the police department has been mired in myriad sexual assault and incompetence allegations, including the firing of Jerusalem District Police Commander Maj.-Gen.Niso Shahar last year after he was indicted for having numerous affairs with female underlings.Additionally, the police drew international condemnation this summer after acknowledging dropping what they thought was a prank call from one of the three kidnapped and subsequently slain yeshiva students.A few weeks later, officers were caught on video savagely beating the Palestinian-American cousin of murdered east Jerusalem teen Muhammad Abu Khdeir during a riot.
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