Justice Ministry publishes police misconduct report

Following a year of unprecedented criminal investigations and general chaos in the highest echelons of the police, the Justice Ministry’s Police Investigation Department on Monday published its annual report. Eight officers with the rank of assistant chief, the second highest in the police force, have been dismissed or resigned over the past 18 months, and five of them were involved in sexual misconduct or sex crimes. Accordingly, the PID has involved AARCI, the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, in every stage of the sex crimes investigations, said PID head Uri Carmel. During the height of the criminal investigations into high-ranking officers’ sex crimes on January 27, Carmel said that the PID’s efforts will help transform the police force into a “more secure, higher quality and clean of sexual harassment” work environment. The report comes after accounts that recently fired deputy commissioner Nissim Mor will be indicted on sexual indecency-related charges. According to the report, more than 200 police officers were brought up on either criminal or disciplinary charges, calling the number “relatively high,” but adding that the vast majority of police officers did excellent work and that a large number of complaints filed against police were totally unfounded. Of the 200 charges, 116 were criminal and in 80 percent of the cases the officers were found guilty. The total number of full criminal investigations in 2014 was 732, out of 1,510 initial reviews brought to the PID’s attention. The report also referred to problems with police mishandling foreign workers, illegal residents and minorities.