National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai decided today (Monday) on the expansion of the security response teams network to Israel’s cities throughout the country.
The decision involves expanding the Israel Police’s security response teams to the entire urban network, forming 347 new security response teams with the aid of 13,200 police volunteers who will be recruited and given personal rifles and accompanying protective equipment.
The Cities Forming Security Response Teams
This week, the Israel Police and the National Security Ministry have been working quickly to build up a force of security response teams throughout Israeli citizens via the police’s volunteer department. As such, new teams will form today and tomorrow in Ramle, Nof Hagalil, Elad, Akko, Nahariyah, Karmiel, Maalot Tarshicha, Ashkelon, Eilat, Rosh Ha’Ayin, Harish, Dimona, Kiryat Gat, Shoham, and Modi’in. The project is expected to be completed throughout the country within a few weeks.
The security response teams will be subordinated to police commanders and operate as police volunteers operating according to an orderly doctrine. Regarding the order of their formation, priority will be given to cities near the border, metros, and mixed cities. Volunteers will be located via Rear Command, the Communal Security Authority, the Community Center Company, the Youth Centers Authority, and the volunteer coordinators of the Israel Police. To join the security response teams, contact one of these parties.
“Forming security response teams will strengthen defense of our homes”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said that “the massacre in the south shows just how important the security response teams are, having saved entire settlements. I am happy for the expansion of the project to the entire country alongside our policy to expand the possibility of hundreds of thousands of citizens to bear arms.”
Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai clarified the necessity of this expansion: “The heroic police officers and Border Guards were the first to respond, the stories of heroism attest to the place of the Israel Police in national security. The formation of security response teams as part of the police stations throughout the country will strengthen the stations with armed police volunteers protecting their home, increasing the standing force of first responders and strengthening security in the urban sector.”