How Many Complaints Against Israeli Police Lead to Charges? 68 in 2021
68 of 5,356 final decisions by Israel’s Police Investigations Department in 2021 ended in a criminal indictment, on the State Comptroller’s audit.
68 of 5,356 final decisions taken by Israel’s Police Investigations Department in 2021 ended in a criminal indictment, which the State Comptroller of Israel put at 1.2% in a May 2023 audit of the Department and the Israel Police. The State Comptroller of Israel reported that the same 5,356 decisions include 625 closed after the officer was questioned under caution and 2,932 closed with no organisational response. These are the Department’s own case records, compiled by the Comptroller, and they count decisions taken in 2021 rather than complaints filed in that year.
| Figure | What it counts | Period |
|---|---|---|
| 11,776 | Complaints opened at the Police Investigations Department | 2019 to 2021 |
| 4,401 | Complaints opened in a single year, against 3,293 in 2019 | 2021 |
| 5,356 | Final decisions taken, the base for the shares below | 2021 |
| 68 (1.2%) | Decisions ending in a criminal indictment | 2021 |
| 625 (12%) | Decisions closed with the officer questioned under caution | 2021 |
| 2,932 (55%) | Decisions closed with no organisational response | 2021 |
| 89 | Disciplinary indictments, about 20% of them for unlawful use of force | Within the audit’s 2019 to 2021 coverage |
Source: State Comptroller of Israel, chapter 105, Systemic Issues volume, May 2023. Counts are the Police Investigations Department’s and the Israel Police’s own records of their own cases, as reported by the Comptroller.
68 of 5,356 decisions in 2021 ended in a criminal indictment
The State Comptroller of Israel recorded 68 criminal indictments among the 5,356 final decisions taken in 2021, printed as 1.2%. The denominator is decisions closed in that year, drawn from the Department’s own case files, and a decision closed in 2021 may belong to a complaint opened in 2019 or 2020. The audit sets no indictment share against the three-year intake figure.
The three counts and the base each belongs to:
- 5,356: final decisions taken in 2021, the base the 1.2% is a share of
- 11,776: complaints opened across 2019 to 2021, a three-year flow of intake
- 4,401: complaints opened in 2021 alone
89 disciplinary indictments ran alongside the 68 criminal ones
The Office of the State Comptroller published 89 disciplinary indictments in the same audit, about 20% of them for unlawful use of force. The disciplinary and criminal figures are the Department’s and the Israel Police’s own counts of their own proceedings, on their own case records, and the audit reports the two tracks separately rather than as one accountability total.
| Track | Count | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Criminal indictments | 68 | Decisions taken in 2021 |
| Disciplinary indictments | 89, about 20% for unlawful use of force | Within the audit’s 2019 to 2021 coverage |
Source: State Comptroller of Israel, May 2023. The two counts cover different periods and are not summed in the audit.
2,932 decisions, 55%, closed with no organisational response
The State Comptroller of Israel reported that 2,932 of the 5,356 final decisions taken in 2021, 55%, closed with no organisational response at all. The three outcome categories the audit publishes are counted from the Department’s own case records and do not sum to the 5,356 total.
The Department opened 11,776 complaints from 2019 to 2021
The Police Investigations Department opened 11,776 complaints across 2019 to 2021, on the Department’s own intake records as reported by the State Comptroller of Israel in May 2023. Complaints opened rose from 3,293 in 2019 to 4,401 in 2021, a rise the audit puts at about 34%.
| Measure | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Complaints opened | 11,776 | 2019 to 2021 |
| Complaints opened | 3,293 | 2019 |
| Complaints opened | 4,401 | 2021 |
| Rise in complaints opened | About 34% | 2019 to 2021 |
| Handling time for an appeal | Rose from 169 days to 200 days | Within the audit’s 2019 to 2021 coverage |
Source: State Comptroller of Israel, May 2023.
The audit publishes no conviction count for the 68 indictments
The State Comptroller of Israel published indictments filed, criminal and disciplinary, and stopped there. The audit carries no count of convictions, acquittals or sentences following those indictments, so the published record on the Department’s own cases ends at the charging stage.
What the May 2023 audit does and does not carry:
- Published: 68 criminal indictments and 89 disciplinary indictments, on the bodies’ own case records
- Published: suspension of an officer running about a year and a half on average, at a salary cost the audit puts at about NIS 9.7 million for 2019 to 2021
- Not published: convictions, acquittals or sentences arising from those indictments
- Not published: any breakdown of complaints or outcomes by police district
Which figures here may not be divided into one another?
The 11,776 counts complaints opened across three years and the 5,356 counts decisions taken in one year, so an indictment rate built by dividing 68 into 11,776 is arithmetic no body performed. The 68 criminal indictments and the 89 disciplinary indictments are separate tracks and the audit does not add them. The three 2021 outcome categories, 2,932, 625 and 68, are the categories the State Comptroller of Israel printed and they do not account for all 5,356 decisions. All counts here are the Police Investigations Department’s and the Israel Police’s own records of their own cases, as audited and reported by the Comptroller.
Questions readers ask
Who handles complaints against Israeli police officers?
The Police Investigations Department at the Ministry of Justice, together with the Israel Police, is the subject of the State Comptroller of Israel’s May 2023 audit of how offences by police officers are handled.
What share of decisions ended in a criminal indictment?
The State Comptroller of Israel recorded 1.2%, being 68 of the 5,356 final decisions taken in 2021.
How many complaints are opened each year?
The Police Investigations Department opened 4,401 complaints in 2021 and 3,293 in 2019, on its own intake records as published by the State Comptroller of Israel.
What happened to the decisions that ended no other way?
The State Comptroller of Israel reported 2,932 of the 5,356 decisions in 2021, 55%, closed with no organisational response.
Does a disciplinary indictment count as a charge?
The State Comptroller of Israel counted 89 disciplinary indictments separately from the 68 criminal ones and did not combine the two figures.
How long does an appeal take?
The State Comptroller of Israel reported that handling time for an appeal rose from 169 days to 200 days within the audit’s 2019 to 2021 coverage.
What does a suspension cost?
The State Comptroller of Israel put suspension at about a year and a half on average, at a salary cost of about NIS 9.7 million for 2019 to 2021.
Are convictions published anywhere in the audit?
No. The State Comptroller of Israel published indictment counts and no conviction, acquittal or sentence count.
Is any of this broken down by police district?
No. The State Comptroller of Israel published a separate May 2022 follow-up audit of the Samaria and Judea District of the Israel Police, which recorded 12,865 cases opened in that district in 2020 for disturbing public order, security violations and damage to property, and measured the district’s emergency response at 2.67 seconds against a 4.14-second national average. That audit carries no complaint or indictment count concerning police officers.
Does Israel publish figures on criminal files closed generally?
Yes, in a separate audit. The State Comptroller of Israel reported about 55,000 suspects’ files closed for lack of evidence in 2020, which that May 2022 chapter writes as about 60% of the files closed in that year, approximately 90,000 files. That chapter counts suspects generally, a different universe from complaints against officers.
Do the police hold data on every ground for closing a file?
The State Comptroller of Israel reported in May 2022 that there is no data on closing suspects’ files on the ground of lack of guilt in the computerised systems of the Police’s Research and Statistics Department.
Does this audit cover the military?
No. Its subject is the Police Investigations Department and the Israel Police. Investigations into alleged misconduct by soldiers are counted separately by the IDF Military Advocate General’s Corps, on its own count.
Sources
- Office of the State Comptroller and Ombudsman of Israel, 2022. Closing Criminal Files by the Israel Police and the Office of the State Attorney. State Comptroller Report, May 2022, chapter one, Systemic Topics. library.mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
- Office of the State Comptroller and Ombudsman of Israel, 2022. Samaria and Judea District of the Israel Police, Follow-up Audit. State Comptroller Report, May 2022, chapter four, Defense System. library.mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
- Office of the State Comptroller and Ombudsman of Israel, 2023. The Handling by the Police Investigations Department and the Police of Offences by Police Officers. Systemic Issues volume, chapter 105, May 2023. library.mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
