The Civil Guard, an all-volunteer
force, routinely faces terrorist threats
By Michael Satlow
Jerusalem District Police Force (Israel)
For years, Israel was described as the opposite of the U.S. - its cities
were safe, but its borders weren't. The current Intifada ("popular uprising")
has changed that. Now, while street crime is relatively low, terrorism has
become a major concern. In 2002, 261 lives were lost in 227 terror attacks.
Given the size of the population in comparison to that of the U.S., the loss
of life is equal to four and a half 9/11 disasters.
The security situation has naturally had an impact on police work. Although
there has been no appreciable increase in the police budget, an inordinate
amount of time has to be devoted to security-related issues. These include
stopping and checking suspicious individuals, assisting the bomb squad with
suspected car and package bombs, and setting up roadblocks when intelligence
has specific information regarding an imminent threat. In the past year,
the police managed to foil 45 attacks and prevent the explosion of 236 bombs,
but at a heavy price; twenty-one policemen were killed and 70 injured in
terror attacks and preventive actions. All this has been in addition to the
regular diet of street crime, break-ins, theft, family violence, court orders,
etc.
In order to help cope with this situation, the police augment their forces
with the Civil Guard. This is a para-police unit founded in 1974, in response
to a series of bombings. It is a voluntary, fully deputized civilian organization
which serves parallel to the police. There are both non-uniform and specialized
uniform divisions which serve together with regular police officers in traffic,
uniform patrol, youth, and bomb disposal.
As an eight year veteran of the Civil Guard (and a three year veteran of
bike patrol), I have been going out regularly with a career police officer
to patrol downtown Jerusalem. This is the most sensitive area of Jerusalem
and has been the scene of the vast majority of the bombings. Our response
time has been dramatically cut during peak traffic hours, and our close
relationships with the store owners have provided a valuable source of
information. As of now, there are four regular police bike patrol units and
29 Civil Guard units spread out in both urban and rural environments. At
present I am helping to organize a Civil Guard bike unit for the southern
part of the city and am pushing for the expansion of the police bike patrol
in central Jerusalem. For anyone bored with writing traffic citations, please
feel free to visit Israel. I can guarantee you an interesting ride.
Michael can be reached at
satlow_m@netvision.net.il.
© 2003 IPMBA. This article first appeared in the Spring 2003 issue of
IPMBA News. |
