The Israel Police and the Community

משטרת ישראל-דף הבית > Israel Police > Volunteers

How can I volunteer to the civil guard?

The civil guard is Israel’s largest volunteering organization, with more than 70,000 volunteers. Some of them – the security civil guard volunteers – are mainly engaged in the prevention of terror acts and crimes (a minimum of 4 activity hours per month), and others – the volunteers in the specialized units – are divided into various sectors (traffic, patrol, detective work, border guard, etc) and professionally assist the police forces (a minimum of 8 consecutive hours of activity per month or, alternatively, 12 activity hours in total).

Courses of Volunteering

Specialized Volunteering units (Yatam)

Civil Guard - Security

The Civil Guard Activity within the Community

Specialized Volunteering Units (Yatam)

By volunteering to the specialized units, one can engage in a wide array of positions, under the professional police units. The volunteers undergo a basic vocational training and specific job trainings.

A volunteer in a special unit is required to serve a minimum of 8 consecutive hours of activity per month, or alternatively a minimum of 12 hours a month in total. The basic training is consisted of additional 45 hours. In most units the activity is carried out in police uniform.

Civil guard - duty officers

Assistance in the operation of police stations’ log books and command center (“100”), directing people who approach the station and answering telephone calls.

Civil guard - bomb disposal expert assistants

The volunteers accompany police bomb disposal experts and help them to enclose areas and keep people away from the site of the event, until the suspicious object is inspected and handled.

Civil Guard - marine policing

Assistance to the marine policing forces through the patrol, policing, search and rescue along the public beaches and harborages in the Mediterranean Sea, the Sea of Galilee and the bay of Eilat. The unit’s volunteers are required to have a boat-sailing license (“Meshit Sira”), in accordance with the Ports Regulations, and to undergo further training in vessel operation.

Traffic control sector

The traffic civil guard volunteers assist in the enforcement of traffic laws, directing traffic, providing first aid treatment to accident casualties and providing information to drivers and pedestrians regarding accident prevention, within an urban or an inter-city framework. It is possible to volunteer to both urban and inter-city traffic units.

The border guard sector

The border-guard uniform-wearing volunteers, who are residents of the border areas and the rural sector, patrol in jeeps in order to prevent terror acts and reduce the scope of agricultural and property thefts.

Civil guard - rescue

The rescue units are trained to locate, rescue, provide medical treatment and evacuate hikers, students, civilians, tourists and soldiers that got lost under rough terrain conditions, found themselves in different dangerous situations, got injured during a certain calamity or natural disaster, while hiking or during the course of any other activity.

Civil guard - divers

The volunteers are divers with an experience of at least 50 dives and a “two star” level minimal prerequisite. They locate missing people and incriminating evidence inside bodies of water.

Civil guard – look-outs

Observation and peripheral security operations, together with the rest of the armed forces, during pre-planned official state events and mass events.

Civil Guard – Security

This framework includes approximately 30,000 volunteers.

A volunteer to the civil guard security is required to dedicate at least 4 hours of activity per month, in addition to his basic and specific job trainings.

The volunteers operate without police uniform, having unique identification characteristics (vests, special badges and civil guard volunteer certificates). There are two types of civil guard security units: security units and support units.

Security – volunteers within this framework operate in their places of residence, through operation bases or neighborhood / settlement guards. They are mainly engaged in the prevention of terror acts and crimes, by operating patrols and manning road blocks. The patrols are either on foot or in a private or a police vehicle (those who wish to drive a police vehicle should hold a police-vehicle driving license. In order to acquire such a license, one should have a valid civilian driving license and successfully pass a practical license test).

Support – During the course of the last few years, the civil guard support units’ scope of operation has expanded, and many new units were created as a response to the emerging operational needs. These diversified units include, among other things: jeeps, bicycles, ATV’s, horsemen, dentists, disaster victim identification (ZAKA), etc.

Civil Guard Activity within the Community

Providing information

Giving lectures and guidance and distributing explanatory material about self-protection and preventive conduct, in different community organizations (youth culture centers, “Vaád Shchunot”, centers for the elderly and schools);

Assisting the elderly / the “Barak” initiative

Escorting elderly people to the postal bank to collect their social security pension (to protect them from robbery), escorting elderly people to community activities that are carried out in the centers for the elderly, house calls, inspecting safety aids and maintaining security measures in elderly people’s houses, marking of property, keeping contact through the telephone, distributing information sheets regarding home-safety, street-safety and road-safety, and conducting preventive patrols in neighborhoods where many elderly people live (to enhance their sense of security and for preventive purposes), etc.

Property trustees

Carrying out property marking operations, which make it possible for the police to quickly identify stolen or seized property and return it to its rightful owners.

Assisting crime victims

The civil guard volunteers, who are trained in various fields (domestic violence, property offenses), contact the crime victim (with his/her consent, given to the police in advance) and accompany him/her through his/her process of rehabilitation and treatment by professional elements.

Part of the civil guard activity within the community is carried out by teenagers as well.

Joining the Civil Guard

Joining form

The form that needs to be filled out in order to join the civil guard (form 6012) is a preliminary personal details form, which serve as a basis for volunteer registration. You can print an empty form at home, fill it out by hand and deliver it to the nearest civil guard unit or to the unit in which you wish to operate.

The process of joining

Besides from a person’s wish to contribute to his community and to volunteer, the civil guard volunteer takes upon himself a big responsibility as well, due to the fact that he carries a weapon and has certain police powers. In view of that, the volunteer recruitment process is consisted of few stages that are intended to ensure that the volunteer can stand up to the responsibility that is given to him.

The recruitment procedure

Filling in the details of the civil-guard-volunteeringapplicant – the applicant fills his personal details into the civil guard joining form and asked to sign a medical secrecy waiver form, in order to obtain an approval to carry a firearm from the Ministry of Health (as required from any firearm license applicant). In addition, the applicant is required to sign a health declaration and present a doctor’s statement, testifying about his heath condition and medical fitness.
Obtaining an approval from the crimes register– the volunteer can start operating only after it is verified that he has a clean criminal sheet (as required from any firearm license applicant).
Declaration of allegiance and obtaining a temporary designation certificate – upon completion of the registration and verification of the volunteer’s personal details, a declaration of allegiance ceremony is held. The ceremony includes a talk about the essence of the civil guard and the volunteer’s commitment to the organization, an explanation of the volunteer’s duties and rights, and a reading and signing of the allegiance declaration. Following the signing, the volunteer receives a temporary designation certificate.
Training – following the declaration of allegiance, the volunteer undergoes a general basic training and an elementary training in firearm operation, including a preliminary shooting practice.
Preliminary activity within the civil guard framework– at this stage, volunteers operate without firearms. In order to receive a permanent designation certificate, the applicant is required to participate in at least two civil guard activities.
Receiving a permanent designation certificate and the status of a regular civil guard member.