The Israeli police is a civilian force in the State of Israel. As most other police forces in the world, their duties include crime fighting, traffic control and maintaining public safety.
The current police commissioner is Rav-Nitzav Moshe Karadi, who succeeded Rav-Nitzav Shlomo Aaronishki.
In case of emergency, a civilian (in Israel) can reach the police by dialing 100 in any phone (free of charge).
Roles
- Security
- Counter terror.
- Keep public's security.
- Maintain public order.
- Securing public events, rallies and holidays.
- Handling suspecious objects and explosives (EOD).
- Securing schools.
- Riot control \ crowd control.
- Law enforcement
- Crime fighting
- Traffic control
- Police and community
- Operating the civilian guard (MASHAZ in Hebrew).
- Handling civilian complaints.
- Handling youth violence and crime.
- Educating the community and participating in educational campaigns.
Organization
The Israeli Police is a professional force, with some 30,000 officers on payroll. There are also at least 70,000 MASHAZ volunteers who contribute time to assist officers.
Diagram - Organization tree
The Israeli police is also responsible for operating MAGAV - the Frontier Guard. MAGAV is the combat arm of the police and its mainly serves in unquiet areas - the borders, the West Bank, and the rural countryside. MAGAV have both professional officers on payroll and conscripts, serving 3 mandatory years in MAGAV instead of the Israeli Defence Forces.
The YAMAM is the police elite counter terror unit.
Weapons and gear
Israeli police officers are obliged to carry personal firearms while on duty. This is because the Israeli police duties include also counter terror and each police officer must be able to supply an emergency reaction in case of terrorist attack. Another reason is that there are threats of kidnapping officers by Palestinian terrorist groups such as Hamas or Fatah's Tanzim.
Each policeman is armed with a pistol (handgun) which he or she usually also carries at home and off-duty. Also, each patrol car must have at least one long-arm (i.e rifle). Police volunteers are usually armed with an M1 Carbine, which they return to the police's armory after they finish their duty (they do not take the rifle home, but may sign one out for escorting field trips, etc.). Volunteers who have a gun license may use their own personal handgun as personal defence weapon for their police duty, under the condition that the gun and ammunition type is authorized by the police (9mm). Common pistols owned and carried by volunteers include GLOCK and CZ-75 designs.
Heavy armaments such as assault rifles, sniper rifles and non-lethal weapons are assigned according to activity and not on personal basis.
MAGAV policemen, however, carry an M16 assault rifle as a standard personal weapon and can carry it home while off-duty (like regular infantry in the Israel Defense Forces).
Issued weaponry
Standard issued rifles (non-combat):
- M1 Carbine (also standard issued weapon of the MASHAZ - Civilian Guard)
- M1A1 Carbine (modernized M1 Carbine with folding stock )
- M1 Carbine bullpup
- Micro-Galil 5.56mm submachine gun
Standard issued assault rifle (combat):
Sniper rifles
Handguns
Non lethal weapons:
- police batons
- tear gas grenades
- flash grenades
- rubber-coated bullets
- pepper spray
Honors and Awards
External links
- Israeli Police official website
