How the Police Complaints Unit Will Operate Outside the State Prosecutor’s Office

“This is the funeral ceremony for corruption investigations,” a legal source warned today (Thursday) in response to the approval of the Police Internal Investigations Department law (the department for investigations of police officers). According to the source, “a police investigator would have to be crazy to ask pointed questions, under warning, of someone close to power.”

The law was approved overnight in the Knesset in its second and third readings, and is considered one of the laws of the judicial overhaul. It passed in complete opposition to the position of the attorney general’s office. In the legal system, the law is seen as one that will accelerate the politicization of the police, turning officers from workers for the citizen into workers for the government in power at the time. There is also concern that there will be no more corruption investigations, since police officers will fear for their promotions as the suspect becomes more senior.

The law, prepared by a joint committee of the Knesset’s Constitution and National Security Committees, was submitted by MK Moshe Saada (Likud), formerly a deputy head of the Police Internal Investigations Department. The law transfers responsibility for the department from the State Attorney’s Office to the justice minister, a political figure.

What are the main proposed changes to the structure of the Police Internal Investigations Department?

It is proposed that the justice minister re-establish the Police Internal Investigations Department within his ministry, separately from the State Attorney’s Office. The department will be administratively and budgetarily subordinate to the minister. In addition, all department employees will be civilians, whereas until now most were police officers on loan, and they will receive access to all police intelligence and case management systems, according to rules to be set by the police commissioner with the approval of the head of the department.

How will the head of the department be appointed, and what influence will the political echelon have?

One of the conditions for appointing the head of the department is eligibility to be appointed to the Supreme Court and experience in criminal law. The term will be a single six-year term, and the appointment will be made by a committee made up of the director general of the Justice Ministry or his representative, who will chair the committee, a lawyer who represents defendants in criminal trials and will be appointed by the justice minister in consultation with the public defender, a retired Supreme Court or district court judge appointed by the chair of the Knesset State Control Committee, and a person with experience in investigations or prosecutions appointed by the civil service commissioner. In other words, the political minister will control the appointment of the representatives and effectively the choice of the head of the department.

What new powers will be transferred to the department head?

As part of separating the department from the State Attorney’s Office and the attorney general’s office, all powers of a criminal nature, including the authority to suspend proceedings against police officers, which are currently held by the attorney general or the state attorney, will be transferred to the head of the department. However, the department will continue to be subject to the general directives of the attorney general and the state attorney.

What is the “coordination mechanism,” and what is the role of the coordinator?

A coordination mechanism for investigating police officers has been established, under which a retired judge will be appointed by the committee to coordinate and decide on the investigation of police officers in the event of a dispute between the department and another investigative or prosecutorial body. Among other things, the coordinator will be able to transfer the handling of an investigation or prosecution to different bodies. The coordinator will also be granted authority to hear appeals against decisions of the department, a power that until now belonged to the state attorney or the attorney general.

Alongside the head will work the “coordination officer,” a retired Supreme Court or district court judge, also to be appointed by a committee headed by the director general of the Justice Ministry, who is subordinate to the minister. His role will be to decide on investigative priorities.

What is the dramatic change regarding investigations of Shin Bet personnel?

Investigations against Shin Bet personnel will be transferred to the Police Internal Investigations Department based on approval from the attorney general and the head of the department. In the event of disagreement, the coordinator of the mechanism for investigating police officers will decide. This is something that has not existed until now in the organization.

What about the reporting requirement, and when is the law expected to take effect?

The minister will have a detailed reporting obligation, including, among other things, the number of complaints filed and how they were handled. The obligation will also apply to the Police Internal Investigations Department, the Israel Police Public Complaints Unit, and the police disciplinary unit. It was also decided that the law will take effect eight months after its publication, but the justice minister, with the committee’s approval, will be able to postpone its entry into force by an additional four months, with the approval of the Constitution Committee. However, the committee for appointing the head of the Police Internal Investigations Department and the coordination officer will be established immediately upon publication of the law to allow the necessary steps for establishing the department.

How did the State Attorney’s Office respond to the approval of the law?

State Attorney Amit Isman sent a letter this morning to employees of the department, in which he emphasized that throughout the legislative process many professional reservations were raised by law enforcement authorities, but now state bodies are required to deal with the implementation aspects during the transition period. Isman sought to express appreciation for the department’s employees and referred to the need for the institution: “The importance of the Police Internal Investigations Department rests on its professionalism, the substantive nature of its work, the independence of its judgment and its ability to act without fear and without bias. These values are a fundamental condition for public trust and an essential framework for the department to continue fulfilling its role in the future as well,” he wrote, adding that the State Attorney’s Office will continue to act responsibly and with state-minded restraint.

What is the position of the justice system and the attorney general on the law?

In her speech this week at the Israel Bar Association conference in Eilat, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said that the law to split the role of the attorney general and the Police Internal Investigations Department law share the same goal and complement each other, political control over law enforcement and criminal justice bodies. She also believes that with their transfer, Israel’s law enforcement system will completely change its character: “Instead of independent law enforcement, we will get law enforcement heavily influenced by political interests and the needs of the current government and the ministers themselves.”

What practical consequences do critics expect, and what will happen at the High Court of Justice?

Approval of the law will immediately lead to petitions to the High Court of Justice. There, a direct confrontation is expected, the Knesset’s legal adviser will defend the law, while the attorney general and the High Court petitions department will refuse to represent the government’s position. At the heart of the petitions will be the argument that police officers exercise harmful powers against citizens on a daily basis. Therefore, a nonpolitical Police Internal Investigations Department, as it exists today, is a central barrier against abuse of the power entrusted to Israel Police officers. The Police Internal Investigations Department law, by contrast, will remove the barrier between the department and the political echelon.

How will this affect investigations of public officials and everyday life on the street?

According to a senior legal source who spoke with ynet, the structural change will lead to the politicization of the system, which will seep directly from the command level down to enforcement on the ground. “The meaning of a politicized Police Internal Investigations Department is deterring police investigators from dealing with cases involving people in power and their associates. It also means overenforcement by police against groups that are not favored by the government. The country’s citizens will feel the change on the street, at soccer games and at protest rallies,” he said.

Baharav-Miara also emphasized the need for an independent and apolitical Police Internal Investigations Department, according to a finding by a committee headed by the director general of the Justice Ministry that examined the issue. “The bill, by contrast, purports to build a model of a new Police Internal Investigations Department that has no precedent in the world, a political and not an independent model. Here too, as in the case of the split law, the policy work that was done is cast aside, and political takeover of law enforcement mechanisms becomes possible.”