Knesset advances bill putting police internal affairs unit under justice minister’s aegis

A bill that would give the justice minister effective control over the Department for Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) is approved in its first reading in the Knesset plenum.

The legislation would remove the department from under the authority of professional prosecutors and set it up as an “independent” agency within the Justice Ministry, according to Justice Minister Yariv Levin.

The bill would, however, see the director of DIPI appointed by a five-member committee, with the justice minister having control over the appointment of three members and input on a fourth. Currently, the director is appointed by a professional committee of the Civil Service Commission.

“The legislation is a central component of the [legal] reforms which will guarantee the equality of all before the law,” contends Levin, following the approval of the bill in its first reading.

“The current situation, in which DIPI is subordinate to the State Attorney’s Office, and is at the same time tasked with investigating police officers, is fundamentally flawed and creates a built-in conflict of interest,” he claims.

Justice Ministry officials, the legal adviser to the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee — where the bill is being drawn up — and the opposition have all argued that the changes to DIPI’s structure, including the new authorities it gives to the justice minister, would compromise the department’s independence, politicize it, and politicize criminal probes of the police.