On January 1st, 2006, the Israeli Government approved the implementation of an extensive program for fighting severe crime, and for developing a witness protection program. These are central and progressive programs, which are the result of cooperation between the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Public Security, the public prosecutor's office, and the Israel Police. The programs aim is to improve the ability of the law enforcement agencies to cope with severe crime.
The Ministry of Public Security and the agencies under its authority are currently working to implement the Minister of Public Security and the State of Israel's policy of annihilating the great threat that organized crime, severe crime and public corruption pose for the State and society. This is achieved through close cooperation between the various law enforcement authorities with the hope of enhancing the level of personal and communal security among the residents and citizens of Israel. This can be done by substantially decreasing the rate of crime, delinquency, anti-social behavior and violence; and by effectively deterring criminals.
This section provides information about the agencies and programs that deal with the fight against severe crime.
The government decision from January 1st, 2006, stated that the authority's three main duties are:
Protecting the witnesses
Developing methods and regulations for witness protection
Furthering the public message and increasing the sense of duty among civilians to tell the truth when delivering a statement at the police station or a court house
A steering committee will be established to be headed by the State Attorney and will be responsible for observing the authority's activities.
The Israel Police's national crime fighting unit, the La'hav 433 unit, is operating as the leading force in the fight against national crime organizations and other severe national crime phenomena.