My Israeli apartment was broken into while I was abroad. How do I file a police complaint from another country?

The neighbour calls, the door has been forced, and you are eight time zones away with a flight you cannot take for three weeks. Two clocks start running at that moment and neither of them waits for you. The insurer wants a police report reference before it will open a claim, and the evidence at the scene degrades from the day it is disturbed.

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Detailed Answer

Section 58 of the Criminal Procedure Law [Consolidated Version] 5742-1982 is short and generous: any person may file a complaint with the police about the commission of an offence. There is no residence or nationality requirement, and no requirement that the complainant be the victim. Section 59 then obliges the police to open an investigation once they learn an offence has been committed, with a narrow discretion for an officer of the prescribed rank to decline where the offence is not a felony and the circumstances do not justify an investigation, or where another authority has jurisdiction. Burglary of a dwelling sits well inside the mandatory zone. If the file is later closed, Section 63 requires written notice of the decision to the complainant with the reason for it, and Section 64 gives a right of appeal, an arar, to a more senior prosecutor: against a decision by an investigating officer the appeal goes to the District Attorney, against a District Attorney's decision to the State Attorney, and above that to the Attorney General. The window is thirty days from the Section 63 notice, extendable by the Attorney General, and it is the provision non-residents miss most often because the notice is posted to an Israeli address that nobody is checking.

Filing it from outside Israel is a matter of logistics rather than law. The complaint is lodged at the station covering the property, and the police will want a Hebrew-speaking person present who can identify the flat and let them in. An Israeli lawyer acting under a notarised power of attorney, apostilled in your country of residence, can do this, and so can a family member, though a lawyer is better placed to press for a forensic attendance and to obtain the file number and the investigating officer's details in writing. Your own statement as owner can be taken later, by telephone or video with the officer's agreement, or sworn before an Israeli consular officer abroad and forwarded. Two practical points recur. The first is that Israeli home policies condition burglary and vandalism cover on a police report, so the reference number is the gateway to a claim, a point our answer on home insurance for an Israeli property owned by a non-resident develops. The second is that the police close as a civil matter anything that looks like a contract dispute, which is what happens to most complaints about a builder who took a deposit or a tenant who stopped paying and stayed. Those need the civil route, described in our answer on removing a squatter from an Israeli apartment, and a complaint filed instead of a claim just wastes the limitation period.

In Practice: A complaint under Section 58 of the Criminal Procedure Law [Consolidated Version] 5742-1982 can be filed by an agent, and Section 59 obliges the Israel Police to investigate a felony such as burglary of a dwelling. A notarised power of attorney costs NIS 251 for the first page under the Notaries Fees Regulations 1977, plus the apostille in your country of residence. Expect the station to issue a file number within 24 to 72 hours of attendance, and a decision to close, if it comes, within 2 to 9 months. The appeal under Section 64 must reach the District Attorney within 30 days of the Section 63 notice, and is typically decided in 6 to 18 months. Insurers will hold a burglary claim of NIS 40,000 to NIS 80,000 entirely until the police reference is produced.

When to Consult a Lawyer

• The suspect is the tenant, the property manager or a relative holding your keys. Those complaints are routinely diverted to the civil track, and the way the complaint is framed at the outset determines whether the police treat it as theft or as a dispute over authority.
• The file has been closed on grounds of insufficient evidence or lack of public interest. The Section 64 appeal is a written legal argument on the investigative material, and running out of time on it ends the criminal route permanently.
• Money left Israel as a result, for example through unauthorised transfers from an account or a fraudulent property transaction. Criminal and civil steps have to be coordinated, and a temporary attachment obtained early is usually worth more than the eventual conviction.

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Speak With an Israeli Attorney

We attend the station on your behalf under a power of attorney, secure the file number and the investigating officer's details, arrange for your statement to be taken from abroad, and file the Section 64 appeal inside the thirty days if the file is closed.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.