Know Your Rights: Police Misconduct, and How to File a Complaint

Photo: Yossi Zamir, Shatil-Stok

Police misconduct is divided into two types: criminal offenses and disciplinary offenses. Complaints about criminal offenses by police officers (punishable by more than one year in prison) and complaints about the unlawful use of force are handled by the Police Investigation Department at the Ministry of Justice (Mahash); complaints about disciplinary offenses are handled by the Police Public Complaints Unit (Yatz). Understandably, in many cases citizens cannot necessarily distinguish between the types of offenses, and therefore sometimes submit complaints to the department that is less relevant to the specific case. We therefore published a rights guide explaining when and how to file a complaint with the Public Complaints Unit (Yatz) regarding a disciplinary offense by a police officer. 

What is a disciplinary offense? 

All police disciplinary offenses are found in the first appendix to the Police Law. They include: 

• Behavior unbecoming of a police officer or that may damage the image of the police; 

• Abuse of a police officer’s position of authority; 

• Failure to wear an identification tag, failure to fulfill identification duty, or providing false identity details; 

• Impolite behavior or use of crude language toward the public while performing duties or when the officer is in uniform; 

• Exploiting police status not for the purpose of carrying out police work; 

• Unjustified refusal to fulfill a reasonable request from a member of the public stemming from being a police officer. 

Note: In cases of police violence, a criminal complaint should be filed with Mahash – an explanation can be found in this rights guide (Heb). 

Why file a complaint? 

Because you have the right to, because the process is not complicated, and because is part of a broader effort to collect data and hold police and the police system to account. 

We know that many people (justifiably) do not trust the system, and feel that reporting police disciplinary offenses will not change anything." But the work to demand that the system adhere to human rights is no less important than the work in the streets. We must bring cases to light when police act contrary to law, and we must note improper practices, especially if they are recurring, so that we can force the police to correct them. Bringing to light cases of problematic police conduct exposes recurring patterns, serves as a basis for future lawsuits, and helps apply public pressure for change. 

A police officer who acts unlawfully once will continue to do so. Know your rights, and do not give up. 

The complete rights guide (Heb): designed version | accessible text version