In the video: security works in Gilboa prison to prevent further escape of prisoners/photo: Shavas
A special report by the Knesset's Research and Information Center on the handling of complaints about police officers, published for the first time in Vala, reveals that approximately 96% of the cases opened against members of the Shevast Police in the Warden Investigations Unit in Lahav 433 were closed in the absence of a criminal offense. In 2022, more than Out of 3,000 complaints against police officers and about 69 cases were ripe for an indictment this year.
The handling of complaints and disciplinary offenses of SHBS faculty members is handled by two audit and judicial branches; one - the unit for investigating prison guards in Lahab 433, and the other - a regime and discipline branch of the SHBS, which includes a disciplinary tribunal.
There are instructions that regulate how each complaint will be handled and where it will be directed.
Between the years 2019-2020, approximately 380 complaints about Israeli police officers were handled in the prison investigation unit (IAS) of the Israel Police.
In the following two years there was a dramatic increase to an annual average of 530 cases.
96% of all the cases opened by the Prison Service (1,830 cases) against prison guards in the years 2019-2021 were closed, with the leading reason for their closure being "no criminal offense". During these years, 222 prison guards were investigated with a warning, 73% of these cases were opened following a complaint submitted directly by a victim The offense. Another 21% came from the regime and discipline branch of the Shevas and the rest from other sources.
96% of all the cases opened in the prison against prison guards were closed. Prisoners in Saharonim prison/official website, Shavas spokeswoman
An examination of the nature of the criminal cases opened against prison guards reveals that between 2019-2022, 150 cases were opened in the prison for a complaint of unlawful use of force, with a measured annual increase of dozens of complaints. About half of the cases were closed on the grounds of lack of guilt or the absence of a crime, and 27% perished on other grounds. Only five cases resulted in an indictment. About 404 prison guards were interrogated with a warning at the prison, 81% of them in the rank of counter and 17% officers.
Some of the subjects were conscripts or national service servants.
Another troubling statistic is the increase in the proportion of crime victims who submitted complaints to the Public Relations Office. In 2019, 312 complainants were registered, and in 2020, 288 complainants complained. However, in the following two years there was a dramatic increase with more than 550 complainants each year. The crime victims are judges (59% ) detainees (21%) faculty members (20%) or visitors to the Shavas.
Among the victims of the crime, 52% of them are Jews and the rest are Arabs.
94% of the complainants are men and 3 of the total victims of the crime were minors.
Between these years, 19 cases for sexual offenses were opened at the IHS, only in 2022 were 16 cases opened. 6 indictments have been filed so far.
In the meantime, out of 255 cases opened by the State Attorney's Office against prison guards and originating from the IHS, only 30 cases were indicted And 233 other cases were closed.
Three cases were opened in these years for the crimes of death, but these were closed without filing an indictment.
Out of 163 cases of violence, 118 cases were closed and indictments were filed in only eight cases.
Out of 24 sexual harassment cases, 15 cases were closed and indictments were filed in 3 cases.
Out of 20 other sexual offense cases, 16 cases were closed and indictments were filed in only 4 cases.
Regime and Discipline Branch of the Shavas
According to the data of the Disciplinary Court of the Prison Service, between 2020-2022, 50 indictments were filed against prison guards and staff, among the offenses were sexual harassment, unlawful use of force, false reporting, and inappropriate behavior.
The Shin Bet does not specify in how many of the cases the accused were convicted or acquitted, but in cases where a conviction for engaging in sexual harassment was established, the staff member was dismissed from his position. In convictions for unlawful use of force, in some cases the accused was dismissed from his position.
The report also shows that the most common channel for disciplinary treatment, and easier , was done through the "single trial" procedure in the regime and discipline branch of the Shavas, about 840 procedures were conducted between the years 2020-2022.
To summarize the data of the police and the prosecutor's office on complaints against prison guards, almost all the cases opened between 2019-2022 in the prison investigation unit - 96% of them were closed on the grounds of "no criminal offense".
94% of the prosecution cases that came from the Public Relations Office were also closed, 46% of them on the grounds of lack of guilt, 11% on the grounds of the absence of a crime and the rest on other grounds.
And what is happening in the police?
Today, there are three bodies that handle complaints against the performance of police officers.
Police Department, Police Department and Police Disciplinary Department.
The most important of them is the Department of Police Investigations, between 2019-2022 between 4,400 and 3,250 complaints were filed every year.
For most of them, the police department does not have a segmentation according to types of offenses but only in cases where the police officers were investigated with a warning. The report also shows that most of the complaints transferred from the police to the police department against police officers were abandoned by the complainants and only in exceptional cases did the complaints mature into a criminal investigation.
The report shows that in 2022, 3,249 complaints were submitted to the Police Department, as a result of which approximately 468 police officers were investigated with a warning in the department and only 69 cases resulted in criminal indictments. In addition, 1,118 submitted complaints were subjected to a preliminary criminal investigation.
Carmel Prison in Atlit/Yotam Ronan
M.H.S
In 2022, about 384 cases were transferred from the Criminal Investigation Department to the Disciplinary Department of the Israel Police, in 351 cases a recommendation was attached to subject the police officers to disciplinary proceedings and in another 33 cases a decision was attached to criminal prosecutions.
Another body that handles citizen complaints about police officers, but it is Operating under the police, it is the police's public complaints unit (YTAZ).
In 2022, the police transferred 739 complaints to the unit. During this year, the police closed about 3,658 cases against police officers, some of them from previous years.
In addition, the police handed over 1,758 items
of police material, such as records and documents, to the police during 2022, but these, surprisingly, did not lead to criminal proceedings.
About 1,124 complaints for unlawful use of force were submitted to the National Security Agency during 2022, the National Security Agency claims that at the moment they do not have a classification in which cases those complaints are attributed.
And what's going on at the courthouse?
Between the years 2022-2019, about 767 complaints about police officers were handled in the YTZ unit on average every year. About 51% of them were found to be unjustified and only 28% of them were found to be justified and the rest as "unproven".
As for complaints against police officers for racism, about 72% of the complaints in which the procedure will end were determined to be unjustified, another 16% were found to be unproven and only 12% were found to be justified.
The report also shows that between the aforementioned years ten police officers were found against whom more than one complaint was received by citizens.
Disciplinary department of the police
Between the years 2019-2022, the administrative measures section of the police's disciplinary department examined about 872 cases, 218 per year on average, the most common complaint against police officers was the use of unlawful force.
Another common offense in the complaints was sexual offenses.
About 222 police officers were fired or their service was terminated due to charges of these offenses.
In the disciplinary law section of the disciplinary department of the Israel Police, approximately 1,042 cases were received in the years 2019-2022, a quarter of the cases (254) were closed without disciplinary treatment.
The rest of the cases were handled through various channels in the section, for example, in the disciplinary court, about 244 cases were judged, 129 cases through a commander's note and the rest through additional internal organizational channels.
Between the years 2020-2022, 187 indictments were submitted to the disciplinary court, here too, the common offenses are sexual harassment, sexual misconduct and use of force.
In 2019, the types of offenses were not worshipped.
More on the same topic:
Israel Prison Service
Israel Police
Department of Police Investigations
M.H.S