The committee probing the botched emergency call to the Shai Police 100 number on the night of the eve of 15 Sivan has submitted its findings. The probe surrounded the emergency call by one of the kidnapped youths who tried to tell police they had been kidnapped by terrorists. However, police personnel handling the call decided to regard the call as not requiring urgent attention, not a genuine emergency call. Police Chief Yochanan Danino in his response to the findings of the committee called the event “unforgivable”.
The Shai Police Operations Chief, Commander Shai Azoulai, the control center commander Superintendent Moti Shushan, the dispatch center shift supervisor and a veteran policewoman are all being removed from their positions and their future is the department is being weighed by top brass. The IDF soldier on loan to police who took the call and alerted his supervisor acted according to protocol and is not among those being ousted from their post.
The colossal failure was the decision to ignore the call and because of that decision, no one tried to trace the owner or take other actions that would have undoubtedly alerted officials to the gravity of the situation. Veteran Channel 2 News criminal affairs correspondent Moshe Nussbaum clarifies the decision was to ignore the call, “not classifying it as a prank or serious, simply to forget about it”.
Danino said that while failures occur in all agencies, this is “unforgiveable” and the appropriate lessons are being learned and those who are responsible in any way will pay the price. Danino vows to work to restore the public’s trust and to make certain nothing like this will occur in the future. Other members of the department, with minor roles in the botched event will be censured and the appropriate notations inserted in their permanent files.
One of the initial responses from Shai police was they are compelled to deal with a high percentage of bogus calls to the emergency number, seeking to somehow justify or explain away the inexcusable inaction by those involved. The committee announced that on that fateful night, until 20:00, the dispatch center received 757 calls, of which 20% (155 calls) were simply pranks.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
4 Responses
Please let’s be careful not to post any postings that will create machlokes between people. Perhaps Hashem is looking down at us now – and hoping that after the tragic news of today we can keep our achdus intact. Please think before you post.
Getting prank calls is not an excuse. That is not the reason we have a state funded police force. Prank calls are a big problem but their job is to respond to emergencies. If getting prank calls dries you out get a new job. This job requires responding.
Gold.. U are so right this was a family tragedy kcal Yisroel being the whole family. In times of tragedy ppl like to cast blame that is part of the test from Hashem how do we as a nation move holding on to what we got from this horrific tragedy… Achdus! Don’t let it break
I think people who make these pranks calls are to a large extent responsible for this (more than the emergency personnel itself).
It may seem like a joke and a laugh but look what happened. 151.4 (20% of 757) prank calls?!?!?! Seriously?1?!?!