'We knew what was going on behind the scenes and kept quiet'
Photo: Gil Nechushtan
Hillel Partuk
Secrets and lies in the Israel Police
Op-ed: The recently exposed scandals are the result of the same organizational culture that prevented police officers from speaking up, says former police spokesman.
Full disclosure: I served in the Israel Police for only three months as the police spokesperson in the rank of brigadier-general. I dedicated my first month to introductory meetings with the senior command and the different police commissioner forums.
There was no professional changeover period. I was shown into the rooms of the spokesperson's department in the national headquarters, introduced to the department's employees, and that's how I hit the road.
I was recruited to the Israel Police in order to create a new, accessible, advanced spokesmanship system, which would cater to the needs of the modern media, like the spokesmanship system I created in my position as the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality spokesman.
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But I did receive a full and thorough update on what was going on behind the scenes of the police. Shocking stories which the public has only been exposed to in the past year or two, but which were well known in the national headquarters. They knew about it and kept quiet.
That's how I got to know the officer with the fatherly appearance, who was known for his flirtations with young policewomen. And the one with the determined face, who the policewomen were said to be crazy about. And the athletic one, who people said it was only a matter of time before he would get caught. And the policewoman who was promoted thanks to her intimate relationship with a senior officer. And so on and so forth. We knew about it and kept quiet.
Police commissioner Yohanan Danino. Not a single word about dealing with sexual harassment (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
It all begins and ends in organizational culture. The same organizational culture that led to the current wave of affairs is the one which is preventing policemen and officers from reporting the cases and making them settle for secrets and lies.
In the entire period I served in the police I couldn't find a single chapter in the annual work plan on sexual harassment or a sexual harassment prevention program. There were no lectures, no meetings, no leaflets. Nothing. The prevention programs in other organizations like the army and other public sectors, which have led to a drop in the number of sexual harassment complaints, skipped the Israel Police's national headquarters and districts.
When Yohanan Danino assumed the role of police commissioner, he declared that his first year in office would be a turning point. Not a single word in the reform he suggested was dedicated to the issue of sexual harassment and ways to handle the problem and the poor organizational culture. As far as I recall, the issue wasn't raised in the senior command discussions or in other forums either. Organizational culture starts at the top.
And it breaks my heart because of the damage to the reputation and status of thousands of policemen and policewomen who see the police work as their life and soul. Dedicated workers who give way beyond their role's definition in order to be hit with a new blow every morning.
