During routine patrols conducted in recent days by members of the Security Department of the Municipality of Haifa at a number of shelters in the city, the workers discovered to their astonishment that many shelters throughout the Hadar neighborhood, Bat Galim, Kiryat Eliezer and Kiryat Haim Mizrahit were damaged as a result of serious acts of vandalism.
For example, the rangers were exposed in cases of theft of air conditioner motors, breaking of toilets and sinks, theft of air conditioner controls and contamination of the shelter area as a whole.
Shelters throughout the city
Throughout the city of Haifa there are over a hundred public shelters spread throughout the city and regularly maintained. Following the increase in security alert in Haifa, the municipality opened all the shelters in the city, so that they could be used by residents who do not have a standard protected space in their homes. Unfortunately, during these hours the shelters were damaged as a result of acts of vandalism.
Vandalism in shelters
These cases, to which the rangers have now been exposed, join a series of other acts of vandalism that have occurred in recent times, in which the remote control systems, which are installed in each of the shelters and allow them to be opened with the push of a button when necessary, were damaged, as well as the floors and door frames in them.
Yair Zilberman, Director of the Security and Emergency Services Department at the Haifa Municipality:
The municipality of Haifa prepared ahead of time and invested many resources in order to prepare all the shelters in the city for the residents to use. However, following the many acts of vandalism that have recently occurred in some of the shelters in the city, it was decided that these shelters will be locked at this stage and will automatically reopen when an alarm is sounded. The Municipality of Haifa appeals to the residents to be careful about maintaining the cleanliness of the shelters and the maintenance of the existing facilities in them, which are intended to serve the public. The municipality also appeals and asks the public to contact the municipal hotline in any case of identifying people entering the shelters unnecessarily, and when encountering any act of vandalism in one of the shelters.