The “Chareidi Service Center” of the Israel Police, the first of its kind in the country, was inaugurated on Wednesday with the participation of the Jerusalem District Commander, Major-General Doron Yedid, Chareidim10 reported.

About a year ago, the Jerusalem police district commander began studying the issues surrounding police access to the Chareidi community. A staff of rabbanim, researchers and commanders who examined the subject recommended establishing a Chareidi police service center.

Seven police officer recruits were selected from the Chareidi sector as well as a female Chareidi investigator recruit. They were trained in police tactics and dealing with the general civilian population as well as receiving special training for working with the Chareidi population. One of them speaks Yiddish.

“The police officers and investigator only deal with difficulties that the Chareidi sector faces,” a police source told Chareidim10. “They don’t deal with protests or army recruitment. They meet with the community, listen to their needs, go to their homes to record complaints, learn about their difficulties and provide solutions.”

“Each police officer will be responsible for a neighborhood and their job is to get to know the people and their needs – and to provide solutions. They’ll also record and file complaints without requiring the residents to come to the police station. The police officers will spend all their time in their specific neighborhoods.”

“Just in the past few days, one of them already acquired information about businesses that have been broken into and the owner didn’t file a complaint with the police due to general distrust of the police. The Chareidi officer met with the business owners, investigated the matter, succeeded in identifying a suspect and together with the intelligence department – arrested the burglar. This is only one example…”

The main purpose of the new unit is to encourage the Chareidi population to utilize the police for issues within the community with an emphasis on criminal offenses. A reluctance to turn to the police can cause more severe problems to develop within these communities.

The police noted that in the short time that the center has operated, complaints have already been filed and successfully solved. Some indictments have already been filed and the suspects have been removed from the community.