State Comptroller Finds Local Authorities Misused Enforcement Cameras

Israel’s State Comptroller and Public Complaints Commissioner published his 2025 annual audit on local government on Tuesday, dedicating a full chapter to surveillance cameras used by municipalities for enforcement in public spaces. The review examined Herzliya, Hadera, Ramat Gan, and the local council of Binyamina-Giv'at Ada, where thousands of parking and bus-lane fines were issued in 2024.

Herzliya issued about 81,000 tickets, Ramat Gan about 36,000, Hadera about 3,600, and Binyamina-Giv'at Ada about 500. The fines amounted to NIS 28.2 million in Herzliya, NIS 14.3 million in Ramat Gan, about NIS 1.2 million in Hadera, and about NIS 119,000 in Binyamina-Giv'at Ada. The comptroller said Hadera did not enforce illegal use of a public transport lane in the city, and the Transport Ministry failed to act despite having the authority to do so. He urged the ministry to contact local authorities that do not enforce bus-lane rules and, if needed, to enforce the law itself.

The report also found privacy and data-protection failures. Binyamina-Giv'at Ada kept recording public space around the clock with four cameras even after they were no longer used for enforcement, later saying the cameras were repurposed for security. It also stored footage for 21 days, although the law allows only 10. In some cases, Herzliya and Hadera had cameras that recorded few or no violations in 2023 to 2025, while Ramat Gan kept footage in a quality that allowed officers to identify pedestrians. The comptroller said such systems improve enforcement but can harm privacy, so they require careful, limited use.

The audit further said Hadera operated enforcement cameras for more than a year under the head of the enforcement department without formally appointing him as the parking-camera supervisor, and only after the audit was he formally named. Hadera’s information-security procedures also did not address access rights, camera installation, or storage of footage. Binyamina-Giv'at Ada had no data-security procedure for its system. Herzliya and Ramat Gan published only partial information online, and none of the four authorities disclosed the scale or benefits of camera-based enforcement. The report also noted declining ticket numbers in the inspected authorities and said that NIS 11.5 million, about half of the bus-lane enforcement revenue, should have been earmarked for public transport infrastructure and operations, but Ramat Gan did not manage the funds accordingly until it opened a dedicated account in June 2025.