Policemen accompany Gil-Ad Shaer's mother, Bat Galim
Photo: Motti Kimchi
Police tried to call back kidnapped teen's phone
While policeman who took the distress call suspected it was real, his supervisor did not try to locate the source of the call.
The policeman at the police's call center, who received the call made by one of the kidnapped teens, suspected it was real, but his supervisor failed at her job, according to preliminary findings of a police inquiry committee.
According to testimonies from the call center's personnel, police tried to call back the number the distress call came from five to eight times, but did not attempt to find who the number was registered to.
The committee, that presented its initial findings on Thursday, noted that the call that was made to the 100 center on the night of June 12 raised the suspicion of the policeman, a soldier serving at the police, who took the call. He told his supervisor of the call, but she did not act as required and did not try to locate the source of the call.
The committee, headed by Brig.-Gen. Moshe Bareket, will likely recommend releasing the call to the public, but this will also depend on the consent of the teens' families.
A source familiar with the committee's inquiry said its full findings will probably be released next week.
The police in response said that the preliminary findings that were reported "are considered estimation."
"We do not intend to confirm or deny any report that is not released in an official statement of the Police Spokesman's Unit. An official statement will only be released when the findings and conclusions are presented and confirmed.
Criticizing the press, the police spokesman added that "the competition for an exclusive headline causes irresponsible reports on a topic of great sensitivity."
Two weeks ago it was reported that the police's 100 call center received an initial report of the kidnapping on June 12 at 10:25 pm - near the time the abduction took place. One of the three teens - Eyal Yifrach, Gil-Ad Shaer and Naftali Frenkel - called the police seconds after getting into the abductors' vehicle and whispered "we've been kidnapped" - but police thought it was a prank call.
The police failed to report the call to the IDF and Shin Bet until 3 am, when the father of one of the teens arrived at the police station and another father called, police realize the initial information was credible.
