According to Israel Police Chief of Personnel Branch Commander Yaakov Lachar, there is a 56% increase in the number of policemen who left the force in the first half of 2008.

Addressing the Knesset Internal Audit Committee, he explained that in the first half of this year, 290 policemen left the force as opposed to 186 during the same time period a year earlier. In all of 2007, 397 policemen left the force and 264 in 2006.

Perhaps the station with the highest rate of attrition is the Temple Mount, reporting 20 policemen left in the past three years. The rate in 2007 represents a 50% increase as compared to 2006. During the first quarter of 2008, 130 policemen left the force, representing over a 90% increase as compared to the first quarter of 2007.

Of the 290 who left between January 1st and June 30th 2008, 51 (18%) were officers and 29% were in the first two years of service. 24% were in the third and fourth years of service and 38% served six or more years. Despite the announcement by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to enlist 1,000 new cops this year, to date, only 31 have joined the force.

The primary cause for the high turnaround is the low starting salary, NIS 5,000, leaving about NIS 4,200 after taxes for the first year of service. The pay scale does not compensate for overtime, nights or weekends.

The chairman of the Knesset committee, MK Ofir Pines warns the alarming trend must be addressed, adding that at the end of the day, the people will pay the price. Pines announced he will begin moving legislation aimed at providing police with a salary comparable to professional army personnel.

Another reason for the high turnaround of personnel is the force’s poor image. No one at the committee session really addressed this alarming reality.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)