Israel's Tough Cop

"The task of the police in 1976 is almost impossible," says Inspector General Shaul Rosolio, 53, a lifelong cop with the build of an ironworker who heads Israel's 17,000-officer national police force. Rosolio toils in that meager patch of the possible, searching for more effective ways of beating back a rising tide of crime. Israel's growing cities now provide the anonymity so useful to criminals. Raging inflation has widened the gap between rich and poor, leaving some Israelis ready to steal their share of the new affluence. Worse, more and more citizens, long schooled in aggressive defense against external enemies, are turning pent-up energies against their fellows. Since 1971 crime in the small country (pop. 4.5 million) has gone up 21.7%. Robbery is up 50%, juvenile delinquency 12%. When Israeli cops are not rounding up petty rip-off artists, drug pushers and hookers, they work on their country's trickiest police problem: beating terrorists to the explosion.

"The police are now involved in all societal diseases, and we are expected to find a magic cure," says Rosolio, who was visiting the U.S. to address a meeting of the National District Attorneys Association in Colorado on crime and terrorism. The inspector general has no magic up his sleeve, just innovative police methods to block what he calls "sophisticated, modern crime." Since taking over as chief of Israel's police force in 1972, Rosolio, a British-accented Sabra whose donnish manner masks a tough law enforcer, has added 5,000 men and women to the force. Though some gripe that Rosolio is "too intellectual," he is convinced that police must generate new ideas about crime prevention and has hired lawyers, psychologists and military men. Even his critics concede that he has created "a more dynamic" police force. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin tells advisers that Rosolio is a "success story."

That praise stems partly from his success at nabbing--and deterring --Arab terrorists. The police took over internal security in 1974, when the government decided that it needed more specialization in anti-terror tactics. Rosolio now also commands the border patrol and the civil guard, a voluntary army of 110,000 citizens. Last year terrorists plotted 150 attacks in Israel; the police stopped more than 50% before they started and collared most of the other guerrillas soon after they struck. Rosolio considers that record inadequate. Says he: "Wanton murder should not happen. We should get there before the bomb goes off." Police urge citizens to "please bother us" if they notice anything irregular. Market owners and bus drivers are urged to keep an eye peeled for abandoned baskets and packages.

No Mob. Rosolio has built a strong organization--too strong grumble some government officials. Says one: "At the end of 1976 the police will have more power than any other force in Israeli society. Add to that their conservative ideology and private intelligence service, and you have a danger to democracy." Rosolio, who calls himself a liberal (though he often slips into conservative rhetoric), laughs off such sniping. He insists that police face a demanding dilemma: how to fight increasing crime in the face of more tolerance, even sympathy, toward criminals.

Yet the outlook may not be all that bleak. Last year Israel had only 1.4 murders per 100,000; the U.S. had 9.7 and France 2.0. Moreover, most Israeli criminals are freelancers; there is no "mob." Rosolio also likes to point to one of his most potent weapons: Israel's geography. "We are in effect an island," he says. "The criminal knows that he cannot escape too far."

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