Distrust between the Israeli Arab community and the Israel Police has long been a major source of tension between Israel’s Jewish majority and Arab minority. The Israel  Police, recognising the imperative to improve its functioning in this area (as emphasised in the Orr commission report), approached The Abraham Fund to assist them in implementing a project to heal and transform their relationship with the Arab community. In 2004, the Israel Police’s Training and Education Department, with The Abraham Fund Initiatives (TAFI) as its official partner in this process, instituted the Arab Society – Police Relations initiative.

Today, the focus is on working to promote institutional change within the police – using the accumulated experience gained in recent years and taking it into the next level of developing and implementing curricula within police training frameworks (the educational arm), and in the operational branches (field activities) on various levels.

Curriculum and Training Development.

TAFI recently began working in cooperation with the heads of the Department of Leadership and Training and the Department for Training Development of the National Police Command. The work involves systematic assessment of all the training frameworks in the police, identifying relevant frameworks, consolidating a method of implementation and assimilation. This process will result in the update of a number of “blueprints” for police training courses, approved by the head of the police human resources department, containing materials relating to policing in a multicultural society and other values advanced by our initiative. With reference to the police’s training blueprints, it is important to note that this marks the first time that the body responsible for all training frameworks has granted us access to the existing training blueprints in such a level of details and is cooperating with us on this matter. A training coordinator was hired by TAFI in May to lead this process, to develop various curricula, and to manage, develop, assimilate and conduct TAFI’s training activities for the police.

Research

We are currently in the process of finalising our report on the Attitude Survey of the Arab society towards the Police. The research consists of qualitative research – a survey amongst a representative sample of the Arab society (1006 respondents) – and qualitative research, including focus groups, which took place last year. We have reached an agreement with the police on both distributing the survey in the police’s official annual magazine on research development and on presenting the research’s main findings through the research division that is part of the strategic division of the police. A TAFI publication on the issue of the Arab Community and the Police is due to be published in 2010.

Study Tour to the United Kingdom

Following the successful implementation of an educational module on policing in multicultural society during the 2008 Israel Police Commander course, which included a study mission to Northern Ireland and a comparative study of the area, we anticipate that a group of Brigadiers General from the Israel Police will be coming to the UK as part of a training course for the top senior command of the Israel Police, as recommended by last year’s participants who called for great engagement of the senior command with the issue of learning from the policing reform in Northern Ireland. Details are to be confirmed, but they are expected to spend time in Northern Ireland and London. Further details will follow when available!