Documentation presented to the Knesset Committee for National Security, headed by MK Tzvika Foghel, has revealed that Israel Police is in the process of training and funding a company of citizen volunteers from the city of Lod, who will form a special alert squad as part of the police’s preparation for the possibility of riots in the city during the month of Ramadan.
According to a report on Kan Reshet Bet, the decision to train volunteers was taken following the riots in the city, where both Jews and Arabs live, during Operation Guardian of the Walls.
The company is comprised of several dozen volunteers, all Lod residents who completed their army service in combat units. Police have been training them for several months already and they are entirely subordinate to police orders, even though they are technically volunteers. If they are brought into action, they will effectively double police manpower in the city.
One of the main lessons learned from the riots during Operation Guardian of the Walls was that Israel Police has insufficient manpower in such circumstances, and that training volunteers could plug this gap, especially in the initial hours of violent outbreaks before police are brought from other areas to control the violence.
The documentation presented to the committee also notes that the model first implemented in Lod could be extended to other “mixed” cities.