The Commander of the Community and Civil Service Brand in the Israel Police, Major General Uzi Rosen, visited the city of Bat-Yam last week in order to learn about the informal educational and enforcement activities taking place in the city as part of the "City without Violence" program. (CWV)

Maj. Gen. Rosen was accompanied by the commander of the Ayalon Region, the Director General of the local municipality, the "City without Violence" professional staff, police officers an representatives of the municipality.

The Director General of the municipality, Ovad Koneh, thanked Maj. Gen. Rosen for coming and said that Bat Yam was selected as one of the CWV cities due to its excellent capabilities in developing social and educational programs for its many immigrant residents.

Director General Koneh mentioned the strong cooperation between the city and the local police stations, due also to the unique program, and said that before implementing the CWV program, they had their doubts about the importance and future success of the program and didn't believe they would ever reach such levels of work harmony with the local police.  He concluded by thanking the Ministry of Public Security for its efforts in spearheading the program, and to the Israel Police and the IFCJ for their contribution to the program's success in Bat Yam.

The Head of the Ayalon Region, Commander Yisrael Tal, spoke about the success of the CWV program in the city and said that since the implementation of the program, every single police officer speaks in "CWV language". "There has been a significant improvement in the personal security of the residents since the implementation of the program" he said, "violence has reached new lows".

The "City without Violence" program is active in Bat Yam in a variety of fields:

• A network of closed circuit cameras has recently been installed in defined problematic areas. In addition, any school in the city interested in installing cameras on their campus can turn to the municipality and will receive financial assistance in the acquisition and installation of the cameras.
• Since the last summer and after hour programs have been running, the municipality has reported a decrease in 600,000 shekel in damages caused by vandalism.
• A number of social projects are active in the city, including the bike patrol, the parent patrol, the community wide security program, and "project 28" which escorts senior citizens to the bank and back on the 28th of every month when they receiver their retirement fund.
• The local police reported a significant decrease in the number of violent cases, and a large number of cases when a volunteer patrol team apprehended purse snatchers. 

The delegation heard a survey of the unique projects run specifically in Bat Yam, as part of the CWV program. One of those programs is the "business initiatives" program which empowers youngsters who dropped out of school and drives them towards the employment market while finishing their studies, thus enabling them to be drafted to the Israel Defense Force.

An eighteen year old teenager spoke about his experience, dropping out of school at the age of fifteen, wandering the streets and taking part in illegal activities. After being drawn to the program, he started working in gardening, and today, three years later, he is responsible for a staff of 10 gardeners, is graduating his high school studies and is looking forward to his upcoming draft in to the army. "If it wasn't for this program, I would have been sitting in jail today" he said.

The "business initiatives" program attracts youngsters who are under the care of the welfare and youth development department in the municipality, sometimes ending up in the program due to word of mouth. They graduate the program with a profession and are drafted afterwards to the army (including to combat units), and some of them graduate high school. A number of the program graduates have opened private businesses in their field after finishing the program.

The Commander of the Community and Civil Service Branch, Maj. Gen. Rosen concluded the visit and said that the CWV program is a fantastic platform for actualizing the goals set by the Commissioner of the Israel Police and the Minister of Public Security. "The important achievement is cooperation between the different authorities and confronting violence as a united force".