David Cohen became Israel's 16th police commissioner Tuesday at an official ceremony in the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem.

He replaces Moshe Karadi, who stepped down several months prior to the end of his tenure in response to the Zeiler Committee's report on corruption in the police.

At the ceremony, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Cohen: "So far, you have had an easy life. You think that it has been difficult, but that was only make believe. From this moment on, you are entering a very special place - a place where you have no one else to turn to in order to share the responsibility that you bear."

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In spite of the fact that Olmert looked exhausted during the ceremony, he spoke without notes and gave a clear and focused speech, describing Karadi's achievements in the war against terrorism and in carrying out the disengagement from the Gaza Strip.

He also commended the outgoing commissioner for improving police service to the citizenry. Finally, he analyzed the police's needs in the coming years.

Karadi summarized his 23 years in the police and delineated the force's main missions under his leadership.

"We have come a long way in the past three years, which began with carrying out the most complex, sensitive and massive operation in the history of the Israel Police - the disengagement," he said.

"At the same time, we were dealing with a serious budgetary crisis that threatened our ability to carry out basic missions, but we succeeded. We put cornerstones in place for building our force, which found expression in changes to the [police's] organizational structure and also in new systems. The most important of these [changes] was the merger of the intelligence and investigations branches."

The new commissioner, who is aware of the crisis in public confidence in the police, said that "the Israel Police under my leadership will direct most of its resources to improving the personal security of residents of the State of Israel, because personal security is an inalienable element of national strength. As such, we shall combat crime on all levels - public corruption, burglary and the epidemic of traffic accidents - while constantly seeking to bolster the public's confidence in the police."

During the ceremony, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter and Karadi were careful not to allow their tense relationship to show. But a senior police source at the ceremony commented: "It is difficult not to think about the tension, and about the shake-up that occurred in the police leadership in recent months, which resulted in the end in the appointment of David Cohen to the post of commissioner."

Dichter's first choice for the past was Major General Yaakov Ganot, but Ganot was rejected by the board that vets senior civil service appointments.