For the first time ever, a police station was inaugurated Sunday inside a military base in southern Israel.
The move represents a new level of cooperation between the military and police forces. The new station will be tasked with enforcing laws at the base in an attempt to stop the growing phenomenon of military equipment being stolen. The station will coordinate its activities with the Border Police.
At the moment only one police officer is present at the station. But, it is expected to become a full-fledged police station in the future.
The new station is located at a military training base near Kibutz Tze'elim, which experienced military equipment theft in 2020.
“Starting today, the new station will coordinate all forces in the area in real-time in the wake of any attempt to steal military equipment,” an IDF officer at the training base said. “A police officer will react to every incident quickly, take testimonies and start an investigation immediately.”
The officer also addressed the updated open-fire policy, saying that IDF soldiers may aim to neutralize the thieves by aiming at their legs – provided they did not stop after being ordered to.
“These rules serve our goal and are well understood by the soldiers. There’s no need to alter them. Forces training at the base caught several people driving near by suspiciously over the past month,” he said.
Meanwhile, IDF Personnel Director inspection teams conducted an internal experiment, stealing 6,000 bullets easily from a training base in southern Israel. The team infiltrated the base using a breach in the fenced perimeter surrounding it.
The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said: “The results of this experiment will be used to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.”