Last update - 00:00 23/07/2007
Police decry work conditions during 2005 disengagement
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent
Dozens of police officers have issued complaints against the Israel Police in response to the conditions they were forced to endure during the Gaza disengagement in August 2005, according to a report presented to the Israel Police on Monday.
The majority of the complaints were made by phone, after the police set up a special hotline during the disengagement where officers could call and file complaints about their work conditions.
One complaint was issued by the mother of an officer who was sent in to help prevent the infiltration of protestors into the Gaza Strip on the eve of the disengagement. The mother complained of the work conditions her son was forced to endure during his 24 hour deployment, namely that he had no access to a bathroom, running water, a shower, or a place to relax; all in the blazing heat of the Gaza Strip in August.
Initial police inquiries have vindicated the officers' complaints and determined that failures occurred because the high numbers of police sent as reinforcements to Gaza. The large forces meant that logistics officers were asked to provide acceptable conditions to 40% more officers than they had been prepared for.
The wife of an additional police officer complained that her husband did not receive basic living conditions during the disengagement, even though his detachment was based next to a Border Police facility that could have been able to meet their basic needs.
Lacking even basic bathroom facilities, the police officers in the unit of the complainant's husband were forced to relieve themselves on the side of the road near a junction, according to the complaint.
She also complained that the officers in charge of her husband's unit preferred to house them in a local park, even though there were prearranged lodging areas available. Hot meals prepared and sent to the police at the park were also subsequently taken and discarded, the complaint states.
The commanding officer in charge of the police work conditions has stated that the harsh conditions were not remedied so as to avoid discrimination between police and Israel Defense Forces soldiers, who endured even harsher work conditions than the police.
The conduct of police commanders during the disengagement is the subject of approximately a quarter of the complaints submitted by police officers in 2006.
Police complained that they were subjected to personal insults, discrimination, abuse, and threats at the hands of commanding officers.
The remainder of the complaints dealt with problems with promotions and salaries, medical care, and requests for leave to study courses and continuing education programs.
The report focuses on findings taken in the past three years after the officer in charge of handling complaints, Commander Hannah Keller, quit in protest over cuts in manpower for her department.
When Keller began her post in the department, there were 806 pending complaints on her desk that had not been answered. She succeeded in revitalizing the department, while increasing its workload and efficiency.
Since she began her post, there has been a marked increase in complaints each year, which many attribute to her ability to rehabilitate the image of the complaints department.