Palestinian Authority police starting radio station

Tuesday 02 Aug 2011
The idea of turning to the police to hear the news and catch some of the latest tunes seems a bit odd, but Palestinians will soon be able to do this with a new radio station being set up by the local police force in the West Bank, Jerusalem Post reports.

The Palestinian Civil Police said they plan to model their new station on the popular ones run by the neighbouring Israeli and Jordanian armies. Senior commanders say they hope to be on air by the end of the year.

“It’s going to be called Al-Hayat, or ‘Life,’ radio station and will be run by the police officers,” said Brig. Gen. Yusef Ozriel, the head of media for the Palestinian Civil Police.

“We have already sent some of our officers to Jordan to learn how it is broadcasting there,” he said. “We wanted to set up a station in order to create direct contact between the police and the public.”

The Palestinian Civil Police is the lead law enforcement agency in the West Bank. When the idea of a police-run radio station first came up last year, Turkey quickly promised to supply the transmitter. The European Union’s Police Mission in the Palestinian territories, known as (EUPOL COPPS), also promised to help provide radio training.
Some €10,000 (US$14,000) has been earmarked for training to help get the FM station on air, a EUOP COPPS said.
However, the station still must get approval from Israel, which allocates radio frequencies to the Palestinian Authority.