Subscribe to Print Edition | Wed., September 03, 2008 Elul 3, 5768 | | Israel Time: 02:04 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Haaretz Toolbar Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Uri Bar-Lev's secret to success: He asked about the wife and kids By Mijal Grinberg Southern District Commander Uri Bar-Lev operated on the principle of promoting officers with a clear track record in reducing crime. If Police Commissioner David Cohen had adopted the same practice, he could not have considered firing Bar-Lev. Bar-Lev divided the Southern District into 46 sub-districts, each headed by an officer. Those who succeeded in their missions were rewarded. Advertisement Local-authority heads in the south say Bar-Lev is a leader who knows where he is going. In addition to having a system that motivated officers to achieve, he created a forum of local-authority heads and leading figures in the south, whom he briefed on the police's activities and who briefed him. Perhaps the most important thing people say about Bar-Lev, from fellow policemen to passersby in Sderot, is that he created a sense of community and closeness. "He's always there; when a Qassam falls, when others don't come, he's there," says Aharon Hugi, one of the heads of Sderot's business committee. Hugi started collecting signatures yesterday on a petition demanding justice for Bar-Lev; by the afternoon he had more than 100 signatures. Bar-Lev, married with four children, of Mishmar Ayalon, was appointed Southern District commander at the end of 2004. His main missions were dealing with the disengagement, handling the Qassam-rocket crisis in and around Sderot, coping with border-fence breaches and above all reducing crime and strengthening the community's sense of security. "I have a deep dispute with Uri. The disengagement to me was and is a crime," says Zevulun Kalfa, one of the Gush Katif settler leaders during the disengagement. But Kalfa admits that Bar-Lev "is a humane officer, a human being. I met him over the disengagement activities and saw that he was a gentleman. "He is a good officer. He played a central role in the south. His door is always open," says Kalfa, who was one of the many who called Bar-Lev to commiserate his dismissal. Bar-Lev set up a unit charged with capturing smugglers operating through the borders. The number of breaking-and-entering incidents into businesses was reduced in 2004-2007 by 53 percent, and street crime dropped 46 percent. The feeling of safety on the street increased during this time - but whether this was because security really improved or because Bar-Lev appeared wherever a rocket landed is hard to say. Dimona Mayor Meir Cohen and Netivot Mayor Yehiel Zohar praise Bar-Lev and are astonished at his departure. Cohen says Bar-Lev held monthly meetings with him and updated him daily on the goings-on in his town. Zohar says the moment he approached Bar-Lev with a problem, the police commander found a way to deal with it. One policeman attributed Bar-Lev's success to knowing how to reward officers for achievements and reprimand them for failures, while at the same time asking how the wife and kids were doing. Several people in Sderot called the police station yesterday to tell Bar-Lev how much they appreciated his work. "If they were right in telling him to go, fine, but if not, then justice must be done. That's all we ask," says Hugi. As for Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, who has an office in town, "he should just leave." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Turning a blind eye Ex-Mossad agent Rafi Eitan: We let Nazi doctor Mengele get away. Aloha Republicans Hawaii's first Jewish governor says Palin is more experienced than Obama.

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