Military Police Corps (Israel) - Sectors - Criminal Investigation

Criminal Investigation

The Criminal Investigations Department (Hebrew: משטרה צבאית חוקרת, Mishtara Tzva'it Hokeret, abbr. Metzah) is a brigade-level unit in the IDF responsible for all criminal investigations involving military personnel. The unit primarily deals with the use of drugs in the army, and theft of and dealing in army weapons. Other investigations include corruption, sexual harassment and assault, suicides, killings and abuse of civilian Palestinan population (done by a special unit that works in the West Bank), and treason. The unit also deals with traffic accidents involving military vehicles.

The investigations division was originally made up of poorly trained soldiers, as well as civilian lawyers, who relied solely on military law, which was based on British law and not always realistic or up to date. Only in 1995, the Military Judgement Law was formulated and organized military protocol.

The CID mainly dealt with theft and smuggling charges. Originally its headquarters were located in Camp Dora in Netanya, but as part of the initial organization of the corps, they were moved to Haifa, and bases were built in Jerusalem, Camp Beit Lid and the base near Qastina. The military police command saw the importance of the investigations division and decided that only high school or higher graduates (at that time, most soldiers had not finished 12 years of high school) should be taken into the division, and their training was conducted by the much more professional Israel Police. Slowly, the investigations division became a professional sector and is now considered the most prestigious sector in the military police.

The division was involved in investigating the Kafr Qasim massacre during the Suez War and the 1954 Lavon Affair in 1960.

With the introduction of the computer in the IDF in the late 1970s, tracking stolen goods and weapons became significantly easier, and in 1980 a sharp drop was registered in successful weapon thefts.

The division has several specialized and/or elite units:

• A secret unit called Yamlam (Hebrew: יחידה מרכזית לחקירות מיוחדות, Yehida Merkazit LeHakirot Meyuhadot, lit. Central Unit for Special Investigations), founded in 1982, which conducts high profile investigations. Some are done together with the Israel Police and the Shabak.
• CID Traffic Accidents (Hebrew: מצ"ח תאונות דרכים, Metzah Te'unot Drakhim), which investigates traffic accidents pertaining to military vehicles. The unit is based in Tzrifin.
• National Unit for Fraud Investigations (Hebrew: יחידה ארצית לחקירות הונאה, Yehida Artzit LeHakirot Hona'a, abbr. Yaha), which investigates white-collar crime, mainly by high-ranking officers and NCOs.
• The Unit for Internal Investigations (Hebrew: יחידה לחקירות פנים, Yehida LeHakirot Pnim, abbr. Yahkap), which was founded in 1994 and is not officially subordinate to the CID. It is responsible for investigating certain crimes committed by soldiers in the Military Police Corps. The unit consists mainly of reservists formerly from the CID, and is directly subordinate to the Chief Military Police Officer.