Researching The Past, Looking To The Future The Israel .

Researching the Past,Looking to the FutureThe Israel PoliceHistoryDepartmentBy Police Commander Shlomi Shitrit,Chief Historian of the Israel Police History Department“A nation unfamiliar with its past will see a poor presentand uncertain future.” This phrase, written by YigalAlon in his book Curtain of Sand, is the guiding lightof the Israel police in the field of history and heritage.In order to fulfill the obligation of being familiar withthe past, the Israel Police operates a history department,under the authority of the Chief Education Officer inthe Education Corps. The history department officersare responsible for three main fields: Documentationof the organization's activities, historic research andpolice heritage.DocumentationDocumentation is conducted in two main areas. The firstis documentation of the organization's major activitiesfor the purpose of preserving organizational memoryand enabling future research. For example, the historyofficers observe large-scale national events, such asnational elections or a visit from a world leader, anddocument any incident of an unusual nature or scope,such as escalations in security disturbances or otheremergencies. The department accompanies the variousmanaging teams and their operations, collecting thedocuments produced during the staff work carried outbefore and after each event, and interviewing all the30parties involved. The purpose of the documentationwork is to enable preparation for future events ofa similar nature based on conclusions drawn fromdocumented past events.The second area dealt with by the department isconducting and recording interviews with Israel Policeveterans. The purpose of these interviews is to preservethe stories of police officers who have taken part inmeaningful events in the organization's history. In recentyears the interviews have focused on the “foundinggeneration,” i.e. the people who served in the IsraelPolice during its first years of existence. A large partof the interviews is conducted by cadets in the officertraining course with the aim of connecting the officersof the future to the organization's past. Needless to say,the information gathered in these interviews is priceless– it sheds light on the early years of the Israel Policeand reveals elements in the history of the organizationand the state that have hitherto been unknown.All the information gathered from documentationefforts is stored in a computerized database, enablingeasy access to every item. The database, which containsinterviews, files, books, recordings, films and photos, isavailable across the police intranet.

The historic research conducted by the historydepartment serves two main purposes: The first – topromote organizational study by focusing on operationalissues and the way in which they were handled in thepast. For example, on the night of the visit of U.S.President Obama to Israel in 2013, the department’sofficers conducted a comprehensive review of the mainconclusions drawn by the police following previousvisits of foreign leaders and important figures in Israel.The review contained everything from the 1977 visitof Egyptian president Anwar Sadat to the 2009 visit ofthe Pope.Another example is a study that was published bythe department, analyzing the methods with whichpolice around the world deal with the aftermaths ofearthquakes. This research was part of the Israel Police'spreparation for a national home front drill concerningsuch a scenario.An additional purpose of the historic research is to gainfurther knowledge on issues of policing and publicsecurity in Israel, and increase academic and publicfamiliarity with the Israel Police's involvement in thestate's history – a subject that is not well known enough.One example of such activity was the department’sresearch on the Israel Police's investigation of formerKapos 1 in the early 1950s and Bureau 06 – the divisionfor Nazi crime investigations. Additionally, the unitalso aids academic researchers who wish to study policehistory, by directing them to appropriate resources.Police HeritageIsrael Police heritage is the third field of activity dealtwith by the history department. The goal is to enhancepolice officers' identification with the organization inwhich they serve, as well as their sense of pride, byfocusing on the police's activities and contributionswithin the wider context of the history of the earlysettlements and the state of Israel.The main project conducted by the history departmentin the field of heritage is a book it published entitledAnd See What the Land is Like (a quotation from thebook of Numbers). The book, written over a periodof a year, reviews the stories of 40 historic policebuildings across Israel – from the facilities of theOttoman regime's Gendarmerie and the Tegart forts, tothe stations established by the Israel Police. The historyof each structure is followed by a story about a historicevent that took place in the area or a police unit thatoperated at the site. A recommendation for a hiking trailin the area is also mentioned. The book aims to increaseKapos: Jewish prisoners forced to oversee other Jews heldin concentration camps during the holocaust.1familiarity with the history of policing and publicsecurity in Israel among police officers and the publicby introducing them to lesser-known heritage sites.Additional heritage projects include a set of postersthat portray the history of policing in Israel, whichwere distributed to police stations across the country;helping plan the new police museum, currently underconstruction at the police training center near BeitShemesh; writing the script for a film about the IsraelPolice, produced for the History Channel; conductingtours and lectures on the subject of the Israel Police andits history; and aiding police units in organizing heritageevents. Additionally, the department is also responsiblefor information on the Israel Police’s website aboutpolice history and heritage, and for managing theFacebook page of the Israel Police Historian, the goalof which is to provide information about police historyto both police officers and the public.The Israel Police is an integral part of Israeli societyand has been since the inception of the state, ofteninstrumental in major events and important affairs. TheIsrael Police sees the preservation of its rich historyas very significant, both as a tool for education andprofessional improvement, as well as a means forinstilling its heritage in those who serve in the IsraelPolice and in residents of the state of Israel.The Israel Police heritage book, 'And See What theLand is Like'Spotlight on Special UnitsHistoric Research31

Timelineof theIsraelPolice1920: Pre-state Israel duringthe British MandateThe Palestine Police Force was the organizationresponsible for policing and public security inIsrael during the British Mandate. The police force,established in 1920, revolved around a nationalheadquarters which ruled over territorial districtsand various divisions. The police force alsocontained the Criminal Investigations Department(CID) and various Gendarmerie units, and wascomprised of two sections: a British section and aPalestinian one. The majority of the high rankingofficers were British while most of the policemenwere locals – Arabs and Jews.The Palestine Police Force operated as a colonialpolice force, focusing more on maintaining orderthan fighting crime. Towards the final years of theBritish Mandate, the police was at the forefront ofthe fight against the foundation of a Jewish statein Israel, resulting in the police facilities and staffbecoming major targets for the Jewish undergroundgroups, particularly the Irgun (The NationalMilitary Organization in the Land of Israel) andthe Lehi (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel).Above: The cover of a Zichron Yaakov police log from April-July 1948. The log includes May 14, 1948, the dayon which Israeli independence was declared. Right: The page of the log from May 14, 1948, which, among theroutine entries, containes the following remarks on the second line, in red: 'The British Mandate is dead! The stateof Israel is alive. Long live the Jewish state.'32

Israel Police officers greet Moshe Sharet - then ForeignMinister and later Prime Minister - upon his returnfrom the UN, where Israel was accepted as a membernation, May 23, 1948. (National Photo Archive)around the country's borders, prompted widespreadinfiltration attempts into Israeli territories. TheIDF's unsuccessful attempt to cope with thephenomenon – the establishment of a designatedforce, the Frontier Force – led to the foundationof three border police divisions in 1951 under thecommand of the Israel Police.1960: The Eichmann TrialSpotlight on Special UnitsDespite this, the Palestine Police Force was thebasis upon which the Israel Police was founded.The operating procedures and orders used by thePalestine Police Force, for the most part, remained Border Police officers on the Syrian border, 1957intact when the state of Israel was founded; even (National Photo Archive)the uniforms and rank names remained identicaluntil 1958.Following the border police divisions' success inthwarting infiltrations, the three divisions werefinally united in 1953 by the Israel Police into one1951: Foundation of the Israel unified Border Police Force. The Border Police wasthen entrusted with the responsibility of guardingBorder Policethe borders alongside the IDF, and designated toThe tension relating to the newly-establishedoperate in crisis situations under the command ofcountry's security, and the fact that hundreds ofthousands of Arab refugees were living in camps the IDF.In May 1960, Adolf Eichman – a former SS officerresponsible for the planning and execution of the“Final Solution” (i.e. the Nazi plan to annihilatethe Jews during World War II) – was captured inAdolf Eichmann, guarded by IsraelPolice officers during his trial inIsrael(Israel Police History Department)33