The case of the crash of the late Barak Mualem tells the story of a small, determined, focused police force, but mostly poor and promiscuous on the part of politicians.
Like Barak, most of the policemen and women often found themselves standing at a police checkpoint when a burglar reported about a fleeing vehicle moving wildly in their direction.
They think about whether to face the dangerous threat, whether to stay away, whether to pull out the gun and shoot.
There is probably not really one clear answer, everything happens depending on the circumstances, when it is usually a matter of minutes or seconds until the encounter with the fleeing vehicle.
During these seconds the police officer is required to act, usually, as trained, to stop the vehicle and the offending driver.
Unfortunately, this all-too-routine activity costs the police injury to police officers and loss of life.
The commissioner did well to sharpen the opening fire regulations for the police due to the sequence of events at the checkpoints, emphasizing that a police officer may fire at anyone who endangers his life when attempting to break into a checkpoint.
Major Barak Meshulam, Photo: Police Spokeswoman
"So it was and so it will be," the commissioner clarified. This is true, but the reality on the ground is completely different. Like soldiers, the police are also afraid to pull the trigger. The fear is another investigation and another investigation, in which the police may find themselves on the dock.
Instructions for opening fire require the police officer to identify immediate and tangible means and intent.
Preliminary investigation of the last two trampling incidents shows that both of them passed the opening fire test, but despite the actual danger no bullet was fired.
When police officers are asked why they do not shoot, the usual traumatic answer is the charged incident in Umm al-Hiran in January 2017, which ended in the death of the late Corporal Erez-Shaul Levi Amadi, the injury of other police officers and the death of rapist Yaakov Abu Alqian.
About a month after the incident, a DIP investigation was launched to find out if the shooting of the police officers in the incident raises a reasonable suspicion of committing a criminal offense. The Abu Alqian family petitioned the High Court to interrogate the police, and in October last year, High Court judges rejected the petition.
No one is to blame for the overthrow of the late Meshulam, with the exception of his 17-year-old son, Belial. The big investment for security. We need to demand from the politicians - raise their salaries. They are always there for us, let's be there for them once.
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