Quick update

Great news! I just found out I passed the police exam. I am now finally done shlav aleph. Its great knowing that I got through 90% of the test, in Hebrew, on my own. I now can fake my way through the army, no one will ever know I really don’t speak Hebrew half as well as I should. Its one thing to order a shwarma and quite another to write an essay or figure out a complicated exam written in complicated Hebrew. I am excited to get my uniform and get started at the police as a uniformed policeman.

For the moment I have bigger problems, such as getting everything on my list for the army. My enlistment day is two weeks from today, its getting closer all the time. I was in touch with some friends who I may be on the same base with, it seems that the Marvah guys are going in the same day, but I am not sure if we will end up in the same place.

Perception versus the Israeli reality

With less than three weeks left to go, my army service is right around the corner. I have been wondering what its going to be like, and how I will cope.

I was thinking about how before I started the police I really had such a different perception of what it would like; mainly based on things I had seen on TV. In reality, the way the police operate in Israel and the role they play is completely unlike anything in the States or Canada. I didn’t really have a good frame of reference for how things are done here. To highlight just a couple of the major differences: in Israel police officers don’t wear bullet proof vests under normal circumstances, and unlike in the States, police never use their guns to order people around, ever. Even putting handcuffs on someone is considered an arrest with force; the focus is always on maintaining the dignity of the person, and providing excellent, prompt, respectful and proper service. Many of my friends from back home have the idea that being a cop in Israel is like something out of the Wild West. From what I have seen so far, the role of a police officer in a city is much more benign, with a definite emphasis on “customer service”. It’s really different here, I guess when you feel something in common with the average guy on the street and the fact that everyone is Israeli, makes it completely different. Somehow we are all in this together; you can really feel it while interacting with the general public. In Canada, people have much more of an Us versus Them mentality, here when you pull someone over to give them a ticket, they come running out of their car and either start screaming, tell you who they know, or show you how you’re related.

Much like the police experience, I have a feeling basic training in the army is going to be nothing like it is portrayed in the movies. I am certain it’s going to be hard, but it’s a great experience and one of the cultural gateways to really becoming Israeli. I am not that great with sleep deprivation or exercise, but as the past two summers excavations have shown, you can get into it quite quickly and enjoy it. I am looking forward to the experience; I think its going to be a real adventure. The first day of the army is a once in a lifetime event, I am sure I will make a lot of new friends, and along the way have a lot of new stories. I am not crazy about getting shots and blood tests on the first day, but I guess it’s a small price to pay to get a uniform and represent the country.

Exam over, waiting on results

Well, it’s finally over. The police exam for shlav aleph (the first stage course) consisted of thirty-four multiple choice questions over eight pages. I understood about 80-90% of the Hebrew, some of the questions and answers were in paragraph form, requiring understanding everything in order to answer correctly. I think (hope) I passed, I will find out in the next couple of days. It took me just over an hour to get through it; I was the first to start and the last to leave. They screamed at us a bit first about being extremely careful in everything we do in a professional capacity. Now that we have uniforms it means there is more risk of being prosecuted for stupid things we do. It was really interesting. Unlike the culture I come from, in Israel people just keep talking throughout the test, with small breaks when the test administrator screams for everyone to shut up, which lasts about five seconds. It was really funny when people walked by and whispered answers to each other. I did everything on my own, and hopefully my grade will reflect that. The exam was extremely varied; there were questions about all aspects of the course. I especially liked the questions about the procedures for opening fire. It was something like this:

Before opening fire you:

1. Shoot first and ask questions later
2. Shout a warning, fire in the air, and then fire to injure but not kill
3. Fire in the air and shoot to kill

Questions like this seemed rather obvious (the second option). Other things about traffic and enforcement were a little more complicated. Over the two months of the course I enjoyed every class; it was always interesting and provides the basics. I think at this stage the biggest help is learning to wade through the endless paperwork and forms. Every class they talk about a different subject, giving the basics of court procedures, traffic, law enforcement, professional ethics, paperwork, first responders, weapons, communications, and a lot more.

The shlav bet (second stage) course is starting in December; I will be in the army, but I hope to take it when I am done. The next course is exclusively about traffic and tickets, it should be interesting, but not what I am looking for right now. After the course I just took, everyone has the option of joining a specialized unit. After considering my options, I asked to join the patrol unit; it’s very general and gets called out to all types of situations. Not that school security, traffic enforcement and the many other options are not interesting, but I like to as Ole says, mix it up and see what happens.

Police exam next week

At long last, it’s finally over. My final police class was tonight, now for a week of reviewing and studying before the exam next Sunday. Assuming I pass, and I sure hope I do, I will get my uniform a week before I go to the army. Even though its switching in one uniform for another, I am looking forward to both. While I am in the army I will still have to put in the minimum number of hours with the police. For regular volunteers in the mishmar ezrachi (civilian guard) its four hours a month, for volunteers who have completed the shlav aleph (first stage) course, it’s now fourteen hours per month. They said it would be OK if I don’t complete my hours while I am in the army and cant get away or spend my leave sleeping, but to make an effort to come. Although it sounds crazy, I am beginning to understand the rationale behind it. Keeping in touch with the police officers in each unit, and keeping in touch with the different officers make it much more enjoyable to come back once you’re free, instead of having to start over again from scratch as the new guy. I should be going for another rifle range practice this Friday to get certified on the micro galil and police handgun, but I think I am going to skip it and do it another time. I am going to be busy this weekend studying; I really want to pass with flying colours. I guess it’s also much more than just the test, it’s critical to know and understand the concepts, and to be ready to put them in practice in the field when the time comes. I learned some crazy laws at tonight’s class, but until I make sure I heard what I thought I heard, I'll keep it out of print. Tonight’s class covered some new topics and reviewed the subjects discussed in course. The courses are generally excellent, the guest speakers are knowledgeable, and have practical experience in their areas. I think the officers of mishmar ezrachi put together an excellent course, and really taught it well.

To be continued…

Perspectives on Winter

I think I know the exact moment winter started this year. I think it was Sunday, around 5am. I was standing at the bus stop in the pouring rain with my police jacket on checking busses for illegal workers coming into Israel from the territories. The policeman with me was soaking as well in the freezing rain. He turned to me and said: “Isn’t it such a bracha (blessing)?” He continued: “It’s so wonderful to work in the rain.” I guess in a place where even in the rainy season it doesn’t rain much, it’s refreshing to see someone feeling refreshed in a shower of blessings, rather than being in a dark, cold, downpour. We were in that bus stop for a few hours, coming out to check busses every ten minutes or so, it was quite an interesting morning. We did find a couple workers without permits and took them back to the checkpoint, as they put it at the station “It’s too rainy and cold to hold anyone today.” Maybe that will change one day when Modiin builds a proper lockup, but for now, the rain washes everything away.

Down at the checkpoint, there was a Yemenite guy who looked like he was ready to hit the beach. The soldiers were huddled up in their winter gear and looked freezing cold, this guy was walking through the checkpoint wearing flip flops, a tank top and shorts. It takes all kinds to figure out what winter really is here.

The Israeli Concept of Time

A couple weeks ago, when setting the date for the rifle range, the officer in charge of my course kept repeating, make sure you’re early for the shooting range, make sure you’re early. Five minutes early is better than a minute late. So on and so forth. I got the idea that it was extremely important to arrive on time. I woke up that morning at 5am and played a bit on the computer; I made breakfast with Moo, and got to the station a few minutes early, promptly at 8am. I signed in and asked the desk officer who I am going with. He said to wait a bit; the instructors were not even there yet. I went to go sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. There were half a dozen people waiting as well, most seemed closer to grade school than high school or army age. It seemed this was just another example of the “hurry up and wait” school of thought. We ended leaving the police station for the range at 9:30, after loading the police vans, finding ice for the drinks, picking up all the paperwork, etc. At the range, the same thing happened, apparently the signup list is not for who arrived on time, it’s for pushing to the front of the line. Even though I was not in a supermarket, it made it feel like Friday. Eventually, the instructors did their speeches to my group, and since by that time most everyone had cleared out, we had the place to ourselves and took our time. They let us practice with one clip first at 30 meters, and because I was confused with all the new Hebrew terminology and had the instructor screaming in my ear (to simulate a pressure filled situation), half my practice shots found other targets, the ones which did find the mark were all too high. Exasperated, the instructors took our small group of five and explained everything all over again, imbuing us with wisdom such as “if your nose isn’t smashed against the stock and pressing into your hand, you’re going to miss” and “don’t think, just shoot”. I also found “don’t spend too much time aiming, just find the target and shoot” interesting. The final round was half standing and half crouching, they dry drilled us a bunch of times to ensure we understood all the commands, and it went really great. I got 15/15 in the target at 30m, and got my license card. I got back to the station around 2pm with a newfound appreciation of “Israeli time”.