A DELEGATION of nine senior Israeli police officers has just completed a short period in Northern Ireland studying how the PSNI deals with community tensions.
Maj Gen Amichai Shai, head of the Israeli police’s human resources department, and who previously worked at operational level throughout Israel, said the visit was very useful, particularly in devising ideas and strategies on how to engage with minority communities.
He said Israeli police were trying to devise better strategies for dealing with minorities such as Palestinians living in Israel and also with groups such as Bedouins, Druze, Christian and fundamentalist Jews.
He said Israeli police had to develop and improve systems for protests and riots and potential riot situations.
“I think one of the important things we have learned is the focus here on policing with the community as opposed to policing the community,” he said.
Maj Gen Shai said he was also impressed with the PSNI being described as a police “service” and this was a focus that could be usefully applied in Israel.