Dichter pledges to beef up police force

Israel Police "too small for country;" elite units slated for high crime areas.

By REBECCA A STOIL
avi dichter 298 88 aj (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
avi dichter 298 88 aj
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
In an era of lean-and-mean government, Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter pledged Monday to expand the Israel Police, characterizing the current force size as "too small for the country." While outlining what he defined as his policy lines before gathered press, the former Shin Bet head emphasized the need to increase public security, saying that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had described it as "a goal of utmost importance" during a meeting between the two Sunday. "The goal of putting the citizen at the center of the police force is a battle in which we will not offer any compromises," Dichter said, promising to work to improve both actual personal security as well as the public's perception of their own security. To that end, Dichter outlined a number of steps that he believed necessary in the near and long-term future in order to achieve his goal. In the short term, Dichter said, a force of over 1,000 combat-qualified police officers will be reassigned or temporarily redistributed, or given additional roles within urban and rural areas in which police were struggling to maintain public order. Areas with high crime rates will be assigned to elite combat-trained police. Dichter also referred multiple times to "bodies which have some or none of the authority of police officers", saying that such units must be examined legally and administratively, and, if they are found suitable, should undertake a greater role in law enforcement. He specified that city inspectors, who serve under the local municipalities, should be given a greater range of authorities in order to "provide a better link between local administrations and their ability to administer personal security for their citizens." But alongside the expansion of the police force, Dichter also pushed for a streamlining of roles currently held by police that were not, in his eyes, necessary. By the end of 2007, Dichter promised, all civilian jails and prisons - and, consequently all civilian prisoners - will be turned over to the auspices of the Prisons Authority. Dichter cited a similar process in the IDF, during which "the IDF realized that the Prisons Authority knew how to run jails better than they did." In the interest of greater administrative accountability, Dichter said, the police would be requested to regulate their terns of service, imposing specific time limits on holding positions, including that of the Inspector General himself. Dichter said that both the Shin Bet and the IDF have similar term limits placed on their commanders, but that currently, the police and the Mossad have no such restriction. While Dichter set out to describe overarching policy goals rather than specific incidents, the shadows of recent events could be seen in at least two of the 'policy lines' described by the minister. "Any attack on or injury to a police officer or prison warden will be addressed to the full extent of the law," Dichter said in an allusion to recent assaults on police officers in both Hebron and Tel Aviv, in which police officers were injured by rocks thrown at them. In both cases, arrests were made immediately following the incidents. Dichter also emphasized the need for security checks within the police force, saying that "it is not logical that in the Israel Police there is a different policy than in other similar organizations with which I am familiar." The question of security checks upon assuming sensitive positions within the police force rose to the forefront in recent weeks, following revelations made during the hearings of the Zeiler Commission. One of the main concerns aired during commission hearings was that the security checks in place had failed to identify a conflict of interest when a police officer with alleged ties to a crime syndicate was placed in charge of sensitive investigations related to that crime syndicate.