NCJ Number
78933
Date Published
1980
Length
10 pages
Annotation
The manhunt apparatus used by the Israeli police to capture eight dangerous prison escapees in January and February 1979, and police problems in applying the system are discussed.
Abstract
Shortly after the escape of the prisoners on January 8, 1981, police had already set up roadblocks; on the following day, a special team for coordination of search measures was appointed. The team was designed to coordinate and to analyze all information about the escapees, as well as to interface with the media. Each separate district had a coordinator and officers to gather information and to provide local assistance. The plan of the commando team was based on probable behavior of the escapees and on the quantity and quality of police resources available. The special team coordinated massive use of search personnel (e.g., road blocks, area searches, checking airports and seaports, cooperation with Israeli defense troops); detective work using information available from local, national, and international sources; investigative work on the escape and on the character, fingerprints, and habits of the offenders, notifying border guards of these profiles; and intensive involvement of the public in the search and its course, including television pictures and interviews with commandos. When the hideout of the escapees was located a special plan was devised to seize them without loss of life, and information was gathered about every aspect of the building where they were hiding. Three escapees were captured in this particular raid, and the remainder in a series of other carefully planned raids. Manhunts are complicated by laws designed to insure protection of individual rights: there are restrictions on publicity about wanted individuals, on house searches, and on body searches of suspects. Arrest warrants are needed for persons sought unless a police officer has good reason to believe that a suspect has been involved in a crime. Secret interrogation is only possible with special permission from the head judge of the district court. Innovative procedures introduced to aid location and capture of sustpects are voice identification, automatic comparison of facial reconstructions with mug shots, spray to make fingerprints visible, and chemical tests for traces of explosives on hands or clothing.