Israel Police

Central District stretches from Netanya in the north to Gedera in the south. It comprises two Sub-Districts (Sharon and Shephelah) which are not contiguous, however, because Tel Aviv District comes between them. Ben Gurion International Airport is a prominent feature of the District -- an autonomous territorial unit for police purposes. The remainder of the District is served by ten police stations.

The population is a mixed urban-rural one of 1,350,000 persons.

MAIN FEATURES

Central District must cope with a range of problems - some national, some local in origin.

About 11% of the District's population are Arabs, living mainly in the two ethnically-mixed towns of Lod and Ramle and the villages of the `Triangle', a situation requiring special policing. However, relations between the police and the Arab minority have improved greatly over recent years, as demonstrated by extensive Arab volunteering in the police Civil Guard.

The District's policing strategy has 3 main elements:

	Fighting all forms of crime;
	The community policing approach -- training and encouraging police officers in collaborative policing in partnership with community authorities and agencies. The District Command makes a practice of building on and extending local community-inspired crime-fighting initiatives;
	Management by objectives and pre-set, quantifiable success criteria. The method has been applied to crime fighting, to reducing road accidents and even to reducing domestic violence, and to other blights on the quality of life.

Together, these three elements make up a community and service-oriented approach to policing, in which the District invests a considerable part of its resources.

As part of its goal to improve the service to the public and expand models of collaborative I.P.- community crime-fighting methods, the District has, since 1997, set up some 60 Community Policing Centers in settlements and neighborhoods distant from a police station. These Centers are manned by officers especially trained to act as agents of local community development. With activists from among local residents, other agencies working in the area, and Civil Guard volunteers, Community Police Officers set up and operate crime fighting projects chosen to match what residents themselves feel to be at the forefront of their needs and priorities.

CRIME AND POLICING PATTERNS

The towns of Lod and Ramle are drug trafficking centers for the whole country.

A bitter long standing feud between two neighboring Arab clans in Ramle, which has claimed many lives, was at last resolved by the mediation of the police in 1998, by the re-settlement of one of the clans members, in another part of the country. This has brought about a clear reduction of violence in the city.

The town of Netanya is plagued by criminal gang wars (sometimes with murders) over local gambling and protection rackets. Intensive work by the police, making use of Border Guard units, has improved the situation, although much work remains.

The District's proximity to the Israel-Palestinian Authority border means that property crime (break-ins, vehicle theft) is rife and that the infiltration and presence of large numbers of illegal workers is also a problem that must be dealt with by the police.

SPECIAL POLICE UNITS

The Foreign Citizens Liaison Unit assists the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to execute deportation orders issued by the Israeli courts.

The Ben Gurion Airport Police Unit's chief tasks are to prevent terrorism directed against the airport (the largest in Israel) and drug smuggling into the country.

The police Border Control Unit at the airport checks incoming and outgoing passengers and their documentation.