Policing In Israel

The Israel Police is seeking to institute changes enabling it to better serve the needs of modern Israel. This report describes a study to address issues of civil-police relations, benchmarking, performance measurement, and deterrence.

"It is hoped that, through this series, it will be possible to accelerate the process of building knowledge about policing and help bridge the gap between the two worldsthe world of police research and police practice. This is an invitation to police scholars and practitioners across the world to come and join in this venture."Dilip K. Das, PhD,

Examines Israel and its policing of minorities through the perceptions and experiences of four distinct minority groups, touching on the issues of racial profiling, police violence, trust and legitimacy of the police and the state.

This timely and important work takes a critical look at the shifting role of police, who are becoming increasingly responsible for handling terrorism threats on top of their regular responsibilities. With an unprecedented empirical study, the authors of this book examine whether this increased focus on security-related threats may come at the expense of addressing “classic” police responsibilities, such as fighting crime and dealing with local, day-to-day community problems. They also examine whether this shift has had a detrimental effect on police-community relationships and perceptions of police legitimacy, as their role changes from “service” to “suspicion.” Through a four-year, multi-method study specifically focused on the Israel National Police, the authors of this work have examined the effects of this shifting role on a number of key areas of policing concern, namely: police effectiveness at fighting crime and police legitimacy, drawing conclusions applicable to any democratic police force. The results of the study provide a number of concrete recommendations for maintaining effectiveness and community relationships of the police, with increasing responsibilities, challenges, and limited resources. This work will be of interest for researchers in criminology and criminal justice, particularly with a focus on police studies and counter-terrorism; police administrators; and researchers in related disciplines, such as sociology and public administration.

Israel has changed dramatically in the past two decades. The Israel Police is transforming itself to meet the needs of modern Israel. The Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Finance, and the Israel Police asked RAND to conduct a study to address issues of public perceptions and trust in the police, benchmarking the police against other police organizations, performance measurement, and deterrence and crime prevention.

This PDF document was made available from rand.org as a public service of the RAND Corporation. Israel has changed dramatically since its founding, especially in the past two decades. There is a public interest in having the police provide a type and level of service that keeps pace with these changes. Despite relatively low crime rates, the public in Israel still perceives threats to personal security and expresses concern over quality of police service. This research developed, analyzed, and evaluated approaches to address issues of public perceptions and public trust in the police, benchmarking the police against other police organizations, performance measurement, as well as addressing deterrence and crime prevention concerns.

Are police forces agents of the state or of society? How do different police forces maintain order? How does the nature of a country's political system affect the state's reaction to disorder? This study identifies trends in public-order policing across a broad sample of seven countries: Britain, Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic, the United States of America, Israel, South Africa and China. It explains why the handling of disorder has become a controversial and topical issue in different parts of the world. Each chapter provides a range of data on the size, make-up and cost of the police and follows a common format in analysing the place of the police at the junction of state-society relations.