NCJ Number
205322
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 52 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2004 Pages: 80-82,84,86
Date Published
March 2004
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes the duties of the special patrol units (SPU) of the Israel National Police.
Abstract
In September 2000, the Palestinian war officially erupted. Since then, there have been more than 85 suicide bombing attacks against Israel’s cities and towns. In the early 1990’s, the first SPU was established as a mobile response force to control large-scale political gatherings from erupting into riot. Since then, the SPU’s have focused on policing Yiftach, the busiest and most dangerous sub-district in Tel Aviv. The area includes the poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhoods of Israel, where narcotics trafficking and terrorist operations thrive. SPU officers assigned to this area engage in high-profile patrolling and mount intensive tactical anti-crime patrols. SPU officers are usually the first at the scene following a suicide bombing and they routinely train in tubular assault techniques and hostage rescue operations. Most of the counterterrorism training of the SPU is carried out on the frequent high-risk arrest and search warrants in the Yiftach area. Another common activity of the SPU is proactive tactical vehicle stops, in which officers stop vehicles to counter terrorist attacks. Profiling has become an unspoken rule in this area as 99 percent of the terrorist attacks on Israel are carried out by Arabs. In conclusion, the author leaves the reader with a scene of a bombing in Israel in which 6 people were killed and 50 were wounded.