Israel has changed dramatically in the past two decades. The Israel Police is transforming itself to meet the needs of modern Israel. The Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Finance, and the Israel Police asked RAND to conduct a study to address issues of public perceptions and trust in the police, benchmarking the police against other police organizations, performance measurement, and deterrence and crime prevention.
"It is hoped that, through this series, it will be possible to accelerate the process of building knowledge about policing and help bridge the gap between the two worlds the world of police research and police practice. This is an invitation to police scholars and practitioners across the world to come and join in this venture." Dilip K. Das, PhD,
Examines Israel and its policing of minorities through the perceptions and experiences of four distinct minority groups, touching on the issues of racial profiling, police violence, trust and legitimacy of the police and the state.
This timely and important work takes a critical look at the shifting role of police, who are becoming increasingly responsible for handling terrorism threats on top of their regular responsibilities. With an unprecedented empirical study, the authors of this book examine whether this increased focus on security-related threats may come at the expense of addressing “classic” police responsibilities, such as fighting crime and dealing with local, day-to-day community problems. They also examine whether this shift has had a detrimental effect on police-community relationships and perceptions of police legitimacy, as their role changes from “service” to “suspicion.” Through a four-year, multi-method study specifically focused on the Israel National Police, the authors of this work have examined the effects of this shifting role on a number of key areas of policing concern, namely: police effectiveness at fighting crime and police legitimacy, drawing conclusions applicable to any democratic police force. The results of the study provide a number of concrete recommendations for maintaining effectiveness and community relationships of the police, with increasing responsibilities, challenges, and limited resources. This work will be of interest for researchers in criminology and criminal justice, particularly with a focus on police studies and counter-terrorism; police administrators; and researchers in related disciplines, such as sociology and public administration.
This PDF document was made available from rand.org as a public service of the RAND Corporation. Israel has changed dramatically since its founding, especially in the past two decades. There is a public interest in having the police provide a type and level of service that keeps pace with these changes. Despite relatively low crime rates, the public in Israel still perceives threats to personal security and expresses concern over quality of police service. This research developed, analyzed, and evaluated approaches to address issues of public perceptions and public trust in the police, benchmarking the police against other police organizations, performance measurement, as well as addressing deterrence and crime prevention concerns.
What does police violence against minorities, or violent clashes between minorities and the police tell us about citizenship and its internal hierarchies? Indicative of deep-seated tensions and negative perceptions; incidents such as these suggest how minorities are vulnerable, suffer from or are subject to police abuse and neglect in Israel. Marked by skin colour, negatively stigmatized or rendered security threats, their encounters with police provide a daily reminder of their defunct citizenship. Taking as case studies the experiences and perceptions of four minority groups within Israel including Palestinian/Arab citizens, ultra-Orthodox Jews and Ethiopian and Russian immigrants, Ben-Porat and Yuval are able to explore different paths of citizenship and the stratification of the citizenship regime through relations with and perceptions of the police in Israel. Touching on issues such as racial profiling, police brutality and neighbourhood neglect, their study questions the notions of citizenship and belonging, shedding light on minority relationships with the state and its institutions.
In divided societies, representation in the police that empowers previously-marginalized groups reduces crime, builds trust, and improves citizen-state relations.
Reconstructing the Civic examines the civic activism of the homeland Palestinian minority in Israel. Employing a multi-methodological and empirically rich approach, Amal Jamal blends historical description with interviews of Palestinian elites drawn from a diverse range of civil society groups such as NGOs, youth movements, and religious organizations. He also critiques the failure of Western/liberal scholarship to account for the experience of minority civil society organizations in illiberal social and political contexts, largely because this literature assumes there is an inherent relationship between civil society and democracy. Jamal places an important spotlight on the complex interplay between liberal and illiberal trends in the emergence, organization, and transformation of Palestinian civil society in Israel as well as the need to introduce an alternative ethical model that aims to reconstruct ethnic states in universal civic terms.
