Israel Police

The Israel Police (Hebrew: משטרת ישראל, romanized: Mišteret Yisra'el; Arabic: شرطة إسرائيل, romanized: Shurtat Isrāʼīl) is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fighting, traffic control, maintaining public safety, and counter-terrorism. It is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National Security. The National Headquarters of the Israel Police is located at Kiryat HaMemshala in Jerusalem.

The Israel Police operates throughout Israel, Area C of the West Bank, and the Golan Heights,—in all places in which Israel has civilian control. It is the sole civilian law enforcement agency in Israel: there are no municipal or regional police forces, though some municipalities employ bylaw enforcement officers who deal with low-level offenses and provide additional security and as such have the power to issue fines, but do not have police authority.

In an emergency, the police can be reached by dialing 100 from any telephone in Israel.

The Israel Police was established in 1948. It is responsible for public security, maintaining public order, securing public events and rallies, dismantling suspicious objects and explosives (EOD), riot and crowd control, law enforcement, crime fighting, detective work, covert operations against drug networks, investigating suspects, road traffic control, operating the Civil Guard, handling civilian complaints, handling youth violence, educational campaigns.

The Israel Police is a professional force, with some 35,000 persons on the payroll. There are also 70,000 Civil Guard volunteers who carry out part-time work in helping to police their own communities.

The police are divided into the following main divisional groups:

The Israel Police is divided into six regional district commands:

Each patrol officer is armed with a pistol (handgun) which he or she usually also carries while off duty. Also, each patrol car must have at least one long-arm (i.e. rifle). Police volunteers are usually armed with an M1 Carbine, which they return to the armory after they finish their duty (they do not take the rifle home, but may sign one out for escorting field trips, etc.). Volunteers who have a gun license may use their own personal handgun as a personal defense weapon while on duty, under the condition that the gun and ammunition type is authorized by the police (9 mm). Common pistols owned and carried by volunteers include Glock and CZ-75 designs.