Last update - 00:00 22/07/2007
Police: Less than 10% of illegal drugs smuggled into Israel are caught
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
Police Commissioner David Cohen said Sunday that less the police catch less than 10 percent of the illegal drugs smuggled into Israel.
Cohen, briefing the cabinet ministers on crime Sunday, said Israel's borders with Egypt and Jordan are completely open to smugglers and added that more than 100 tons of marijuana and hash have been brought into Israel from the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula over the last year.
Cohen also mentioned that there had been a slight drop in break-ins in 2007.
"As far as I'm concerned, break-ins are the most severe crime. It invades the victim's personal space," Cohen said.
He added that the police force is greatly understaffed, and there are far too few police officers in relation to the population. He explained that there are 2.8 police officers for every 1,000 Israeli citizens. In contrast, in New York there are 4.4 police officers for every 1,000 people, Cohen explained.
Cohen told the ministers that in order to maintain the current police to citizen ratio, the police force would have to recruit 1,000 new officers by 2010.