Madrahania • From the experiences of a volunteer traffic police officer ○ Yossi Berger

"Policeman, so maybe..." - everything the Israeli driver needs to know to keep the law and the peace of all of us • Chapter 31

Some say we are brotherly people. Would it be conceivable that my brother, or my sister, would deny my rights or the rights of ordinary citizens of the country and the country we all share?

Passive violence

The answer of course is no!
But reality smacks the people living in Zion in the face at almost every turn. One of the shocking manifestations of this phenomenon is the violence and bullying that is increasing every day in our streets, including the passive bullying and violence.

The phenomenon in which drivers without any consideration park their cars on the sidewalk in a way that blocks the passage and requires a dangerous descent to the road, is this type of passive violence.

This phenomenon, in which tenants on the street do justice to themselves and turn the sidewalk in front of the building where they live into their private parking, has become common in our places. The phenomenon worsens during the weekend when law breakers park their vehicles for whole days in a dangerous and disturbing manner.

Like many other illegal and unacceptable things that have become normalized in Israel in recent years, this phenomenon, as dangerous and disruptive as it may be, has become a norm that citizens have no choice but to adapt to.

Can the bullies win?

Two volunteer police officers decided that it was their duty to take action and try and fight this ugly phenomenon. We decided to start every shift in law enforcement on the "Midrachania thugs", as we called them.

It was a bright and warm morning. We asked Felix not to give us readings for the next hour and we went to one of the main streets in Kiryat, where the phenomenon is widespread and quite regular. We pasted the reports on the first three vehicles that were parked in a thuggish and inconsiderate manner without the owners appearing.

The fourth vehicle parked in a way that completely blocked the passage on the sidewalk. The driver did not bother to leave even a narrow passage for a skinny pedestrian, let alone a mother with a baby carriage or an elderly person with a scooter. Anyone who used this sidewalk had to go down to the road risking their lives.

The fine for an offense of this type is 500 NIS without points and the wording of the charge is simple and clear: "You stopped the aforementioned vehicle in a place that was not arranged for parking a vehicle."

Maniac cop

Victor drove the car next to the parked car and I approached it on foot. It is the duty of the police officer, before deciding to write a report on illegal parking, to make sure that there is no one in the car and that the reason for parking is not a malfunction or other circumstances that justify the stop.

 "Shimon, a maniac cop is going to give you a parking report!"

I turned my gaze in the direction from which the call came and saw that it came from the mouth of a young man who was standing on the balcony on the fourth floor of the adjacent building.

At the sound of his call, more neighbors appeared on the balconies, looking curiously at what was happening.
I opened the report pad and started writing.

"Well done, policeman," called a lady from the balcony on the first floor, "they turned the sidewalk into a private parking lot. First time the police have come. Well done!"
"Don't give up on him," cried an elderly man from the balcony on the first floor, "they do what they want here. We're fed up!" he announced in a thin voice.

I raised my hand to calm the viewers of the show.
"Calm down guys. We know our job," I said and continued writing the report.

"Hello, Shoterus, wait a minute, what happened? Why is that?" A man's voice was heard behind me.
It was a stocky man who approached me from the path that led from the door of the building to the sidewalk, flip flops on his feet, wearing a white tank top and faded sweatpants.

"Your car?"
I asked after glancing at him and returning to fill in the details in the report.

"Not mine, my mother's," he answered.
"Rosa is your mother?" asked Victor, who meanwhile got out of the car and joined us, holding the tablet in his hands.

You drove robberies

"Yes. My mother. Why what's wrong with my mother?" Ask.
"According to the date of birth, your mother is already ninety-one years old. Does she still drive?" Victor asked…

"You must be driving," said the man in the tank top, stretching his bristling face into a smug smile, "you're a robber driver." The man laughed, looking up to see what impression the joke made on the crowd on the balconies. No one laughed at the joke, except the young man on the fourth floor.

"Are you Simon?" Victor asked as he scrolled through the tablet.
The man nodded and stood behind Viktor's back, peering at the screen.

"Tell Rosa, your mother, the Swedish driver, to come down here together with a driver's license and a car license," I told him.

"You made me laugh, Shotros," replied Moshe with obvious self-satisfaction, "My mother is not at home. She is in a nursing home."
"So who parked the car here?" Victor asked.
"I don't know, what am I Columbo?"
"Do you happen to have the car keys?" I asked.
He hesitated for a moment, probably testing the consequences of answering the question in the affirmative.
"Yes, I have," he finally answered.
"Then you better get them and move the car before we have to get a police tow truck," Victor said.

Amazingly the man did not argue.
"Broch, throw me the keys," he called to the young man from the fourth floor.

Kudos to the cops

Baruch obeyed, disappeared and returned in a few seconds. He threw the keys and Shimon picked them up, got into the car and started.
"Take the report and give it to your mother," I said and handed him the appropriate copy, "it's better than sticking it on the window."

The man took the report and looked shocked.
"Where will a ninety-year-old woman get 500 NIS from now?"

"Maybe from your inheritance?" Victor suggested, "In any case, I'm making a note on the tablet and we'll visit here every shift. If this car parks here, Rosa will get more and more reports. Do you understand that, Shimon?"

Shimon did not answer, started, cleared the sidewalk and parked the car in an empty parking lot, one of the many that were there.
Applause and applause from the neighbors who were standing on the balconies, accompanied us when we returned to the car and drove away from the place.

"Free?" asked Felix in connection.
"Yes," I replied, "what do you need?"

"There is a call about a vehicle parked on the sidewalk. Come see," he said and gave the address.
The address was on the same street, right in the building across from Shimon's.
"You guys are learning fast," Victor said and did a U-turn.
"And you also gain courage," I smiled and prepared the report book.