The Civil Defense Force in 2020

●      Episode (8)

●      ( Screening, redistribution and secondment of some employees of the Civil Defense Force in 2020, to work in security agencies, or civilian institutions, or as escorts) !

●      The Palestinian Civil Defense Force is a Palestinian security body, its establishment came by a presidential decision in 1996, then Law No. 3 of 1998 and its amendments were issued for it, and the Force assumes the tasks of civil defense work, taking the necessary measures to confront disasters and emergency situations, its mission is the protection of civilians and their property, ensuring transportation safety...etc.

●      A report of the General Directorate for Monitoring Governance "Civil and Security" on the work of the Civil Defense Force for 2020, which was included in the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB)'s annual report for 2022, showed that the Civil Defense Force during that period (the Corona pandemic) carried out the screening of a group of its employees to work in security agencies, or civilian institutions, and screened a number of its military employees to work for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and to accompany personalities .. despite the fact that the Civil Defense Force is in need of personnel, in addition to that these are not among the tasks and competencies of the Civil Defense Force..

-        The aforementioned report also showed that the Civil Defense Force places a number of employees on secondment for medical or disciplinary reasons for a period exceeding 4 years, without specifying a time period for secondment with defined durations!

-        The report also revealed that the Civil Defense Force screens some employees as escorts for some retired employees in the Force, of the rank of Brigadier General and above (according to the report).

●      And I say here, that in such screening, redistribution and secondment of the Force’s employees, it occurs at a time when the Force itself is in urgent need of its employees to carry out the burdens and responsibilities, and the tasks of the Civil Defense Force, to train those employees, and to achieve job stability for them.. to attain the optimal use of human resources, and to give this job stability to the employees, confirmation of the actual tasks and the services they provide (according to the report)..!

●      In addition, such screening and secondment do not fall within the powers and responsibilities of the Civil Defense Force, according to the Law on the Establishment of the Civil Defense Force of 1998, and the legislation, policies, and the tasks assigned to it thereunder (according to the SAACB report)!

●      The SAACB report on the work of the Civil Defense Force for 2020 added regarding the subordination of fire stations, where it clarified that they usually fall under the General Directorate of Civil Defense, and Civil Defense centers, except for the fire stations in the cities of Nablus and Hebron, which are subordinated to the municipality.

●      It added that there is a shortage in the number of stations for some governorates, such as Bethlehem, and an excess in the stations for some governorates, such as Salfit and Jenin, according to the analysis of the distribution of fire stations in the governorates compared to the size of the governorates and the population.

●      The report revealed a shortage in the number of personnel in Civil Defense centers in most governorates, according to the European standard, and the analytical comparison of the number of personnel in Civil Defense centers with the number of individuals.

●      As for response time, the report revealed that the response time exceeded in some governorates of Nablus and Tulkarm, while the response time decreased in the governorates of Salfit and Jenin, this was shown through the analysis of the standard response time adopted in the General Directorate of Civil Defense, which was set at 7-10 minutes.

-        The deficit or surplus in fire stations, and the number of personnel in the governorates, in a manner that does not correspond to the distribution of the population, geographic area, and historical information for dealing with fire cases, negatively affects the quality of service provided to citizens, and the response time to emergency cases.

●      As for financial affairs, the SAACB report revealed that a separate budget is not prepared in the General Directorate of Civil Defense and submitted to the Budget Department of the Central Financial Administration, so that a ceiling is determined for each approved spending item, which makes it impossible to know the appropriations allocated in the budget necessary to meet actual needs..

-        The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) report revealed the disbursement of an amount of 203,441 shekels for petty cash and monthly missions, by decision of the Force’s commander during 2020, representing 2.6% of total operating expenses.

-        In addition, there was a disbursement of 3,971,816 shekels on the item of transportation means during 2020, representing 51% of total operating expenses, where fuel was paid based on a monthly invoice in the amount of 204,000 shekels, without attaching detailed statements of the actual consumption of the vehicles belonging to the Force...

-        The report explained that the bank statement balance did not match the balance of the revenue report that was collected, where a difference of 335,320 shekels was found, in surplus, in the bank statement, and it was not disclosed in the 2020 revenue report.

-        The report also indicated that the Financial Administration of the Civil Defense Force does not perform monthly bank reconciliations for the revenue account, and there is no separation in recording revenues according to the type and nature of the revenue.

-        The report also revealed, in the financial management aspect of the Force, that bank deposit receipt books are not used sequentially, but are used randomly, and the fourth copy (the carbon copy) of the payment voucher at banks is not retained in the payment voucher book..

●      The Department of Prevention and Public Safety:

-        The aforementioned SAACB report revealed that a number of petrol stations did not obtain a fire prevention and safety permit, so it was sufficient to give them a statement of conditions by the Civil Defense, which are not complied with, and no legal action is taken against them, and some stations did not pay the fees due to the Civil Defense, and did not obtain a prevention and safety permit for years, and no legal action was taken against them.

●      Directorate of Civil Defense in Tulkarm Governorate

-        A staff member in the Civil Defense Directorate in the governorate exploited weak internal control procedures related to issuing permits and collecting fees, manually issuing general safety permits on one receipt voucher, whereby a single copy of the four copies is deposited, and the remaining copies are exploited to issue permits to different payers..!

-        It is not possible to prove and enumerate the amounts that were tampered with, as there is no register of permits issued by the directorate, and there is no serial number for the permits issued by the department?

-        Also the process of issuing permits is not done on specialized paper, which facilitates the manipulation of permits, and there is no enumeration of the payers, and there are no files for some of them, and the safety permit is not attached in some files.

-        Unused, canceled or lost deposit vouchers for 2020 were not enumerated, and the Department of Prevention and Public Safety at its general headquarters was not addressed.

-        A supplies and fixed assets register is not used, but rather a periodic inventory of items is relied upon, so that a receiving voucher is sufficient upon receipt, and an issuance voucher for the governorates.. also there is no register of rescue equipment and firefighting means that shows how they are distributed to the directorates, centers, warehouses, and storerooms!