Police Chief Karadi
Photo: Haim Tsach
Comptroller slams Israel Police
Scathing report says police's systemic failure to deal with complaints undermines citizens' quality of life, police's power of deterrence, and the rule of law
The Israel Police systematically dismisses complaints without investigating them under the pretense of "no interest to the public," significantly undermining public trust in the police and rule of law, a scathing report by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss charges.
In the report, cleared for publication Tuesday afternoon, the comptroller blasts the police for the ease with which it chooses to dismiss complaints without looking into them.
According to the report, the police failure "undermines the residents' quality of life, the police's power of deterrence, and the rule of law."
The comptroller also criticized Attorney General Menachem Mazuz for not actively taking part in formulating and pushing forward a policy regarding which types of offences should not be investigated.
According to a sample undertaken by the comptroller, about 34 percent of criminal files were dismissed even though there was room to look into more details about the suspect or circumstances of the offence. Despite the duty to explain the decisions, in 42 percent of the dismissed cases no explanations were provided or were inadequate.
On another front, the comptroller slammed the fact the battle against road accidents has not been defined as a national objective by the government and is not included in the list of major objectives of the various government ministries dealing with the subject.
Lindenstrauss said that in order to promote the battle, the government and Transportation Ministry should "mark the issue as a top priority and national objective."
