Public Security Minister Amir Ohana held on Sunday a panel to address the challenges police officers face when dealing with people who have disabilities.
The panel included top officials from the Disabled Persons Equal Rights Commission, the Health Ministry, the Justice Ministry and former chief of police Moshe Adri.
The panel included a review of existing regulations about how officers should deal when working with people who are disabled and ended with a decision to add future lectures in which persons who are disabled will meet officers and teach them about their everyday experience.
Police officers will also be taught how to better spot people with mental disabilities and illness.The educational materials, which will be created in the future, will be read by a joined committee composed of health and welfare professionals before they are taught in police school.
Ohana noted that the great majority of cases when officers engage with civilians end in a positive way and this panel was meant to deepen the “officers' understanding in this subject.”
In late May, Border Police officers shot and killed Iyad al-Halak, an autistic 32-year-old Palestinian man who reportedly had the mental capacity of a child. The case caused an uproar in Israel and was condemned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other politicians.