Police chief youth movement plan scorned

Israel Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich on Wednesday announced plans to set up a police youth movement, a plan quickly panned on social media for what critics said were fascist overtones.

Speaking at the Interdisciplinary Center in the central city of Herzliya, the top cop explained that a youth movement would be able to educate children to become law-abiding citizens and respect the law.

The purpose, he said, is not to show how action-packed the job of the police is, but to “teach about the norms of obedience to the law.”

“We will set up a pilot of the idea in a few cities to bring about a change in disobedience,” Alsheich said and explained the project came about after he received a letter from an 11-year-old boy, who asked him to set up a “children’s police.”

A police tweet about the plan drew a slew of comparisons to the Hitler Youth.

“Are you out of your minds?” wrote one user. “What will you call the movement? The Alsheich Youth? You had better calm down and quick. Education is not your job, and you should start by educating the police themselves.”

“Education is the insignificant part,” wrote another. “It seems the focus will be on obedience.”

The first pilots of the youth movement are to begin in September, Alsheich said.