Microsoft word - police and policing in the israeli-arab society_eng.doc

State of Israel
Ministry of Public Security
Bureau of the Chief Scientist
Police and Policing in the Israeli-Arab Society
Attitudes and Expectations
among the Israeli- Arab Population
Yoav Santo - Ph.D, Principal Investigator
Nohad Ali - Ph. D, Co-Principal Investigator
Dialogue-consultation research & training
Tel – Aviv
March 2008
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STATE OF ISRAEL
Ministry of Public Security
Bureau of the Chief Scientist
Police and Policing in the Israeli-Arab Society
Attitudes and Expectations
among the Israeli- Arabs Population
Yoav Santo - Ph.D, Principal Investigator
Nohad Ali - Ph. D, Co-Principal Investigator
Dialogue-consultation research & training
This study reported herewith was conducted with the support of the Bureau of the Chief Scientist at the Ministry of the Public Security. The Ministry of the Public Security encourages independent research by providing professional and financial support. The contents, conclusions, recommendations, proposals and professional judgment expressed in this report are solely those of the authors' and do not necessarily represent or reflect the position and/or the official of the State of Israel and/or that of the Ministry of Public Security. www mops gov
Executive summary
Introduction
The study's objectives are to map and analyze the attitudes of Israeli - Arabs toward the Israeli police. In addition, the aims of the study are to identify points of strength and weakness in those attitudes as found in various sectors of the Israeli - Arab public. Research Method
The study is based on a national representative sample of 884 Arabs (not including the Druse) residing in Israel (within the Green Line). Participants were interviewed in Prior to the telephone survey, in-depth interviews were conducted with 15 key figures from the Arab public. Interviewees were from the mass media, the local government, In addition, three focus groups were conducted with residents from three Arab Key findings
The Israeli - Arabs express a dual approach toward the Israeli police. On one hand, the findings show a partial satisfaction with some of the police activities and it exhibits some confidence in certain units of the police force. On the other hand, there is an apparent lack of confidence in other units of the police force, which is manifested in critical attitudes toward these units and expectations for their improvement. Most respondents express some measures of confidence in The Traffic Department, in The Community and Civil Guard Department and in The Patrol and Security www mops gov
Department. About a third of the respondents express no confidence in The Civil Guard Department and in The Patrol and The Security Department. Most of the respondents indicated, that functioning of the police in the area of enforcing traffic laws is relatively good. In the areas of maintaining public order, protecting human lives and dealing with domestics disputes, those who thought that the police's function was satisfactory outnumbered those who were critical of its functioning. Among the expressions of satisfaction and confidence there were also critical and negative attitudes toward the police and its function. The majority of the respondents expressed no confidence in The Border Guard and in The Special Forces. Furthermore, there is a core of about 10% of the respondents, who expressed no The in-depth interviews reveal similar findings: "There is distrust between the police and the Arab citizens. Only a minority of Arabs are willing to complain about the Even though one cannot compare data from the in-depth interviews with the survey data, it seems that opinions expressed by public opinion leader were more critical in the in-depth interviews, than those expressed in interviews that were conducted over There seems to be an association between gender and confidence in the police. Men tended to express more polarized positions, while women tended to express middle of There were no significant associations between background variables (e.g. education, income, religion, place of residence) and confidence in the police. www mops gov
The function of the police drew the highest rate of critical or negative attitudes. Most respondents (76.3%) stated that the police discriminates against them, uses over-force (59.2%), is hostile (57%) and is unfair in its behavior (68.6%). Higher rates of men thought that the police was discriminating against them in comparison to women. More respondents with an academic education thought that the police was discriminating against them in comparison to respondents, who had only More respondents who live in mixed communities (Jewish and Arab residents) stated that the police was discriminating against them in comparison to respondents, who The in-depth interviews echoed critical attitudes with regard to the police being discriminating: "The police are passive when the victims (of crimes) are Arabs and active when the victims are Jewish". Yet, the traffic department is perceived as less discriminating compared with other departments: "It is true that the police punish Arabs more than Jews but it seems that The Traffic Department is less discriminating In the spheres of property protection, settling domestic disputes and abating drug use and trafficking the rate of respondents who assessed the function of the police as "bad" was higher than those who assessed it as "good". The assessments of police's handling of protesters, land confiscation and demolition of houses were extremely negative. Over 84% of the respondents stated that the police handling of these matters was "negative" or "extremely negative". There was a negative association between education and the assessment of police www mops gov
There were no other significant associations between other demographic variables and police handling of protesters, demolition of houses and land confiscation .There were no consistent differences across the Arab sectors in attitudes toward the Israeli police. Christians did no differ in their responses from Muslims. Attitudes of residents of the four main regions(Upper North, ,North, Central and the South) were similar. Residents of cities with mixed (Arab and Jewish) population expressed on the whole attitudes no different from residents of other communities. Those identifying themselves as "Bdueens" were similar in their responses with the rest of the sample. The study examined the respondent's attitudes toward various aspects of the police service orientation: the response time to a telephone call, the waiting time in the police station until being served, the distribution of police stations in Arab communities. More respondents expressed dissatisfaction from the distribution of police stations in Arab communities and from the waiting time in the police station until being served, than those who expressed satisfaction. The study examined service orientation toward the Arab public, e.g. consultations with local leadership, sensitivity toward the Arab culture and availability of written information in the Arab language. Most respondents stated the police's service orientation in those issues is not satisfactory. Most respondents stated that in recent years they have not observed any change in the police function in spheres of property protection, life protection, settling of local disputes and community and civil guard services. Yet, about half of the respondents stated that the police enforcement of traffic laws had improved in recent years. Despite the critical and negative attitudes of many of the Israeli - Arabs toward the police, significant portions of this public expressed interest in improving the police's approach toward them. For example, the majority of the respondents, 57% are interested in greater police recruitment from within their ranks. Nearly three quarters of the respondents, 72% are interested in strengthening the community's policing www mops gov
services. A similar proportion is interested in strengthening the police's presence in Among the factors that affect the Arab's attitudes toward the police behavior are the way Arabs perceive the state's approach toward them and the approach of the state's There is a positive association between attitudes toward the police and the perceived state's approach toward the Arab public. About half of the Arab public stated, that they are satisfied with the state's overall approach toward them. Less than half of the respondents indicated they believe that the state's institution, examined in the study, The respondents, who were satisfied with the state's approach toward them, and those who incorporated the term "Israeli" as their national identity (e.g. Israeli - Arab) reported that the state's institutions were less discriminatory against them. In addition, those respondents showed the highest rates of approval of the police. Conclusions
The Israeli - Arabs seam to have a dual assessment of the Israeli police. Most of the Israeli–Arabs express confidence in most of the police departments. Yet, the majority of the Israeli – Arabs expresses no confidence in The Border Guard and in The It seems that attitudes toward the police functions are related to their police duties. For example, The Traffic Department, which deals primarily with civil matters, received higher levels of confidence and positive assessments of its functioning. On the other hand, police departments that are engaged in managing the conflicts between Jews and Arabs received lower levels of confidence and more critical assessments of www mops gov
Another expression of the duality in the approach of the Arab public toward the police is the fact that despite its criticism of the police, large portions of that public are interested in improving their relationship with the police. Improvements that can be achieved through dialog between the police and local leadership, through strengthening of the community's police force and through placing more police stations in Arab communities. It seams there is an interrelationship between the perceived state approach toward the Arab public and that public's attitude toward the police. One can speculate that a change in the perceived approach of the state toward the Arab public will yield a similar change in the attitude of the Arab public toward the police. Recommendations
It is recommended that think – groups be established, in order to examine ways and means to improve the Israeli-Arabs attitudes toward the police. It is recommended that elements of the police activities, which are well received by the Arab public (e.g. The Traffic Department), be identified and replicated into the work of other units that deal with the management of local disputes and drug abuse. It is recommended that the training procedures and the operating procedures of The Patrol Guard be reviewed in order to improve the Arab's public satisfaction from their It is recommended that social scientists from the Arab sector be incorporated in the planning processes of the demolition of houses. This is in order to reduce criticism of police operational method in this matter. It is recommended that the police increase its familiarity with the Arab culture. The significance of familiarity with the Arab culture should be emphasized in all police stations which serve the Arab population. www mops gov
Training courses and workshops, which promote the understanding of the Arab It is recommended that the police increase the knowledge of the Arab language among It is recommended that indicators of service orientation to the Arab public be developed. The police should monitor those indicators and report them to the public. It is recommended that the police performance indicators, e.g. road accidents and the level of crime be developed for the Arab communities. It is recommended that the finding from this study should be made available to policemen in general and those in contact with the Arab public in particular. Policemen should examine their operational methods in an attempt of reducing the critical attitudes reported in this study. It is recommended that current communication channels with the Arab public be examined in order to explore ways of improving those channels. Special attention should be placed on methods of consensual conflict resolution. Attention should also be placed on developing procedures to review with the local leadership exceptional or violent events in order to minimize their occurrence. www mops gov

Source: http://mops.gov.il/Documents/Publications/English%20-%20special/PoliceandPolicingintheIsraeliArabSociety_summary.pdf