B'Tselem

Type	Non-profit NGO
Founded	1989
Location	Jerusalem, Israel[1]
Key people	Jessica Montell
Area served	Israel and the Palestinian territories[1]
Focus	"acts primarily to change Israeli policy in the Occupied Territories and ensure that its government, which rules the Occupied Territories, protects the human rights of residents there and complies with its obligations under international law."[1]
Mission	"to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel."[1]
Employees	38[2]
Website	http://btselem.org

B'Tselem (Hebrew: בצלם‎, "in the image of", as in Genesis 1:27) is an Israeli non-governmental organization (NGO). It calls itself "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories". The group was founded on February 3, 1989 by a group of prominent Israeli public figures, including lawyers, academics, journalists, and members of the Knesset.^[1]

B'Tselem's stated goals are "to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel".^[1] In December 1989 the organization shared the Carter-Menil Human Rights Prize with the Palestinian group, Al-Haq.^[3][4] Its executive director is Jessica Montell.^[2]

The group has come under intense criticism from elements among Israel's nationalist camp; Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman charged the group with abetting terrorism and weakening Israel's defense forces.^[5]

History[link]

B'Tselem was founded on February 3, 1989 by a group of prominent Israeli public figures, including lawyers, academics, journalists, and members of the Knesset.^[1] B'Tselem's stated goals are "to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel" with the primary objective being "to change Israeli policy in the Occupied Territories and ensure that its government, which rules the Occupied Territories, protects the human rights of residents there and complies with its obligations under international law."^[1]

The NGO's key founders were:

• Dr Daphna Golan-Agnon (academic and founding director of feminist peace group Bat Shalom)
• David Zucker (Knesset member for the Ratz party, one of the founders of the Peace Now movement)
• Haim Oron (Knesset member for the Mapam party, one of the founders of the Peace Now movement)
• Zehava Gal-On (Ratz party activist and future Knesset member for the Meretz party formed through the merger of Ratz and Mapam)
• Avigdor Feldman (civil liberties lawyer)
• Dr Edy Kaufman (academic and civil liberties activist)

Main activities[link]

The focus on documentation reflects B'Tselem's objective of providing as much information as possible to the Israeli public, since information is indispensable to taking action and making choices.^{[citation needed]}

Activity in the Knesset[link]

B'Tselem regularly provides Knesset members with information on alleged human rights violations in the West Bank, and alleged injustices caused by Israeli authorities. Several Knesset members, from various factions, assist B'Tselem in placing human rights matters on the public agenda and in safeguarding human rights.^{[citation needed]}

Public action[link]

B'Tselem has hundreds of supporters and volunteers^{[citation needed]} who work to improve the human rights situation in the West Bank. These activities include, in part, setting up information stands, distributing printed material, addressing problems and requests to decision-makers, and participating in protests in the West Bank.

Reports[link]

B'Tselem publishes reports on various issues such as torture, fatal shootings by security forces, restrictions on movement, expropriation of land and discrimination in planning and building in East Jerusalem, administrative detention, house demolitions, and violence by Israeli settlers. Over one hundred reports have been published so far. The organization serves as a source of information for journalists, researchers and the diplomatic community at the national and international level. B'Tselem's activities receive extensive media coverage.

B'Tselem also campaigns against the death penalty and the human rights record of the Palestinian Authority. On 17 February 2005, the organization called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to commute the sentences of Palestinians condemned to death and abolish the death penalty. Abbas had shortly before ratified the death sentences of a number of Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel or of other criminal charges.^{[citation needed]}

Environment[link]

• 2009 Foul Play. Neglect of Wastewater Treatment in the West Bank found that waste water from two million people in the West Bank and Jerusalem area was being allowed to drain untreated into the Jordan Valley. Whilst emphasising the illegality of the settlements the report calls for improvements in their sewage treatment. It points out that this illegality makes cooperation between the Israeli and Palestinian authorities impossible.^[6]

Gaza[link]

• 2005 - One Big Prison. Freedom of Movement to and from the Gaza Strip on the Eve of the Disengagement Plan investigates the four and a half year old policy of restricting freedom and movement to and from the Gaza Strip. It points out that Israel has the right to defend its civilians and that attacks on Israeli civilians were defined under international law as "war crimes". But Israel does not have the right to "trample on the rights of an entire population, in a patently arbitrary and indiscriminate manner."^[7]
• 2006 - Act of Vengeance. Israel's Bombing of the Gaza Power Plant and its Effects reported on the 28 June 2006 Israeli missile attack which destroyed the Gaza Strip's only electricity power plant. It recognises that the high level decision to launch the attack was linked to the capture of Corporal Gilad Shalit but concludes that the attack, as an act of collective punishment, was a war crime.^[8]
• 2009 - Guidelines for Israel's Investigation into Operation Cast Lead 27 December 2008 - 18 January 2009 raised questions about soldiers and commanders breaching international humanitarian law; not only through the action of individual soldiers but primarily those of policy makers. It list questions that need to be answered as:

Were civilian objects the target of attacks?

Did the military respect the principle of proportionality?

Did the military use prohibited weapons including white-phosphorus shells and indiscriminate weapons?

Did soldiers shoot civilians who were not endangering their lives?

Did Israeli soldiers use civilians as human shields?

Were ambulances and medical teams attacked while performing their duties?

Was there unjustified delay in evacuation and treatment of wounded persons?^[9]

House Demolition[link]

• 2002 - Policy of Destruction. House Demolitions and Destruction of Agricultural Land in the Gaza strip reports on the demolishing of hundreds of houses and thousands of acres of agricultural land in the Gaza strip on the grounds of "pressing military necessity." It concludes that the policy violates international humanitarian law conventions to which Israel is a signatory and calls for compensation for "every Palestinian who suffered as a consequence of Israel's policy of destruction."^[10]
• 2004 - Through No Fault of Their Own. Punitive House Demolitions during the al-Aqsa Intifada concluded that the Israeli policy of punitive house demolition was illegal and ineffective. The report cites Supreme Court Judges Heshin and Shimon Agranat, as well as the UN Human Rights Committee, to make its case. It demands "that the government of Israel immediately cease the policy of punitive house demolitions, and that it compensate Palestinians whose homes have been demolished as a result of this policy."^[11]

Human Rights[link]

• 2000 - Illusions of Restraint. Human Rights Violations During the Events in the Occupied Territories 29 September - 2 December 2000. During the period investigated B'Tselem found that Israeli security forces had killed 204 Palestinian civilians as well as 24 members of the Palestinian security forces, with approximately 10,000 wounded. Thirteen Israeli civilians and eleven members of the Israeli security forces had been killed by Palestinian civilians and five security personnel killed by their Palestinian counterparts. Whilst also drawing attention attention to Human Rights violations by the Palestinian Authority the reports main concern is the use of excessive force by Israeli forces in dispersing demonstrations by unarmed Palestinians, in particular the use of live ammunition. It called for an international commission of inquiry.^[12]
• 2001 - Civilians Under Siege. Restrictions of Freedom of Movement as Collective Punishment found that the Israeli security establishment was using Collective Punishment as "a deterrent" to discourage Palestinian attacks and that this was immoral, a gross violation of international law and a "slippery slope" that could lead to "the kinds of punishment that most people would find detestable." It noted that Hebron had been under intermittent curfew for three months.^[13]
• 2001 - No Way Out. Medical Implications of Israel's Siege Policy concluded that Israel's policy of restricting Palestinian freedom of movement in the West Bank amounted to collective punishment. It notes that the International Committee of the Red Cross had reached the same conclusion (February 2001).^[14]
• 2003 - Behind the Barrier. Human Rights Violations as a result of Israel's Separation Barrier found that the proposed route of the barrier "gravely violates human rights without any security justification whatsoever." It commented that Israel appeared to be creating facts on the ground that would affect any future arrangements and was in breach of the Haig Convention which prohibits expropriation of land in occupied territory.^[15]
• 2006 - Barred from Contact. Violation of the Right to Visit Palestinians Held in Israeli Prisons reported that tens of thousands of Palestinians were unable to visit relatives imprisoned in Israel, or only able to visit once or twice a year. It notes that the transfer of prisoners from occupied territory is prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention which also requires that, following the September 2005 withdrawal, prisoners who are residents of the Gaza Strip should be handed over to the Palestinian Authority.^[16]
• 2006 - Perpetual Limbo. Israel's Freeze on Unification of Palestinian Families in the Occupied Territories states that the processing of all requests for family unification in the Occupied Territories had been frozen since September 2000 and that as of October 2005 there were 72,000 of these requests pending. It concluded that this policy severely violates Israel's obligations under international law and was intended to change the demographic composition of occupied territory. It notes that this policy is forbidden, illegal and "constitutes racial discrimination."^[17]
• 2009 - Without Trial. Administrative Detention of Palestinians by Israel and the Internment of Unlawful Combatants Law claims that Israel holds hundreds of Palestinians in prolonged detention on undisclosed suspicions, without giving them the opportunity to defend themselves and without indicating when they will be released.^[18]
• 2010 - Caution: Children Ahead. The Illegal Behaviour of the Police toward Minors in Silwan Suspected of Stone Throwing called on the Israeli police to end the practice of arresting minors at night, the use of violence during these arrests and ensure that minors are only interrogated in the presence of their parents. It notes that Israeli settlements built in East Jerusalem constitute a violation of international law.^[19]

Israeli army[link]

• 2002 - Wounded in the Field. Impeding Medical Treatment and Firing at Ambulances by IDF Soldiers in the Occupied Territories states that attacks on medical personnel and the refusal to allow medical treatment of sick and wounded had reached "an almost unprecedented level." It quotes Palestinian Red Crescent figures that, since 2000, three PRC medical personnel had been killed by IDF gunfire, 134 wounded and 174 ambulances had been damaged.^[20]
• 2005 - Take No Prisoners. The Fatal Shooting of Palestinians by Israeli Security Forces during 'Arrest Operations' found that the IDF were carrying out an average of five arrest operations a day and that since the beginning of 2004 eighty-nine Palestinians had been killed in these operations; at least forty-three of those killed were unarmed and at least seventeen were not wanted or suspected of committing an offence.^[21]
• 2010 - Void of Responsibility. Israel Military Policy Not to investigate Killings of Palestinians by Soldiers reports that "a soldier who kills a Palestinian not taking part in hostilities is almost never brought to action for his act."^[22]

Jerusalem[link]

• 1997 - The Quiet Deportation - Revocation of residency of East Jerusalem Palestinians. "For some eighteen months, a quiet deportation of East Jerusalem Palestinians has been taking place. Using laws, regulations, court judgements, and administrative tactics, Israeli authorities are expelling thousands of persons from the city." The report found that this was a continuation of a policy begun in 1967 to create a Jewish majority in East Jerusalem.^[23]
• 2003 - Nu'man, East Jerusalem. Life under the Threat of Exspulsion concluded that residents' basic human rights were being severely infringed and that villagers' freedom of movement had been significantly impaired for a decade. "The policy's goal is to maintain the 'demographic balance' in Jerusalem, meaning that the percentage of Palestinians in the city must not be allowed to exceed a certain ceiling - formerly set at twenty-five percent and now thirty percent."^[24]

Settlements[link]

• 2001 - Tacit Consent. Israeli Law Enforcement on Settlers in The Occupied Territories found that Palestinians who killed Israelis were punished by the full extent of the law, sometimes with their families also being punished; in contrast violent offences against Palestinians by Israelis were treated with leniency and Israelis who kill Palestinians were not punished or given a light sentence.^[25]
• 2003 - Hebron, Area H-2. Settlements Cause Mass Departure of Palestinians accuses the Israeli army of systematically infringing the human rights of Hebron's Palestinians while ignoring "settlers' almost daily violence against Palestinians and Palestinian property."^[26]
• 2004 - Forbidden Roads. Israel's Discriminatory Road Regime in the West Bank concluded that there was an undeclared policy of preventing or restricting Palestinians using a number of roads in the West Bank. This policy was based entirely on verbal orders given to soldiers in the field. It infringes two fundamental human rights: the right to equality and the right to freedom of movement.^[27]
• 2008 - The Ofra Settlement. An Unauthorized Outpost concluded that Ofra, despite being a recognised settlement, was an unauthorised outpost under the requisite criteria set by Attorney Talia Sasson and adopted by the Israeli government. It found that at least 58 percent of the land on which Ofra was built is registered to Palestinians in the Land Registry.^[28]
• 2008 - Access Denied. Israeli measures to deny Palestinians access to land around settlements recommended that

- The army, police and Civilian Administration should enforce the law on settlers, with respect to un-authorized taking of land and violence against Palestinians.

- Dismantle fences and physical obstructions placed without official approval.

- Protect Palestinians from settler violence.^[29]

Torture[link]

• 1991 - The Interrogation of Palestinians During the Intifada: Ill-Treatment, "Moderate Physical Pressure" or Torture? examines the Israeli secret service's interrogation methods, and speculates on which were described in the guidelines set out in the secret sections of the Landau Commission Report. It quotes IDF statistics that during first three years of the Intifada and average of 25,000 Palestinians had be arrested annually, with 15,000 eventually charged in court. B'Tselem estimates that each year around 8,000 prisoners underwent extended periods of interrogation and 1,600 per year were subjected to some of the forms of moderate physical pressure described in the report.^[30]
• 2000 - Legislation Allowing the Use of Physical Force and Mental Coercion in Interrogations by the General Security Service argues that "any statute that permits the GSS to use physical force, however minimal, even in exceptional cases, is equivalent to sanctioning torture."^[31]
• 2001 - Torture of Palestinian Minors in the Gush Etzion Police Station found "a shocking picture of torture and maltreatment of minors by police interrogators."^[32]
• 2010 - Kept in the Dark. Treatment of Palestinian Detainees in the Petah Tikva Interrogation Facility of the Israel Security Agency was based on testimonies from 121 Palestinians held at the Shin Bet interrogation facility at Petah Tikva during 2009. It concluded:"The detention conditions in the Petah Tikva facility, which have the capacity to break the body and will of detainees, cause severe deprivation of sensory, social, and motor stimuli." It called for "unbiased external inspection" of the facility.^[33]

Video[link]

B'Tselem has expanded its operations in recent years to increasingly include video-based footage.^[34] The expansion of its video project began in August 2007 with the launching of MySpace, Facebook and YouTube sites which are to act as an alternative area for the showcasing of the organisation's films - aimed at expanding the group's presence amongst a younger age category and attracting people to its main website. Other video sharing websites were following.^[35]

Main research areas[link]

B'Tselem investigates in a number of aspects related to the Arab-Israeli conflict. In particular the following:

• The accountability of police and military forces in the territories.^[36]
• The use of administrative punishment.
• The continued use of torture during interrogations, particularly by the GSS (General Security Services of Israel).
• The illegal policy of house demolition, as a form of collective punishment, which is often justified for alleged military purposes.
• Inequalities in the planning and building procedures which discriminate against Palestinians and Israeli-Arabs.
• The legal status of residents of East Jerusalem.
• The path and effects of the Israeli West Bank barrier and its legal status.
• Problems related to family unification and child registration.
• Neglect of infrastructure and services.
• Illegal Israeli settlements and the extreme closures placed upon the Palestinian population of Hebron.
• Breaches of international human rights law.
• The water crisis in Palestinian areas.
• Family separation.
• Restrictions on movement, such as checkpoints roads, curfew and the effect these have on the economy and medical treatment.
• Israeli settlement land expropriation, settler violence and attacks on Israeli civilians by Palestinian militants.
• Gaza Strip - The scope of Israeli control, economic and social decline, sonic booms, access restrictions, the firing of Qassam rockets.
• Use of force - beating and abuse, use of firearms and human shields.
• Violations by Palestinians - attacks on civilians, harm to suspected collaborators, death penalty in the Palestinian Authority.
• Rights of workers from the territories.

Report on rockets from Gaza[link]

A B'Tselem report devoted to Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians reported [4] that from June 2004 to 17 January 2009, 19 civilians and 2 soldiers were killed in Israel by rockets and mortar fire by Palestinians. Four of them were minors.

According to the UN, cited by B'Tselem the number of rockets fired at Israel was as follows:

• 2005: 1194 Qassam rockets (an average of 100 a month)
• 2006: 1786 rockets
• 2007: 1331
• 2008: 2048 rockets and more than 1672 mortar shells.

Board members[link]

B'Tselem board members are:^[37]

• Co-chairs:
  • David Kretzmer, Professor of Law, Faculty of Law and School of Public Policy, Hebrew University.
  • Gila Svirsky, Co-founder of Coalition of Women for a Just Peace.

• Neta Amar: Lawyer, Legal Advisor for IHL Project, Diakonia and Staff Attorney for Rabbis for Human Rights.
• Anat Biletzki: Professor of Philosophy, Tel-Aviv University.
• Orna Ben-Naftaly: Head of the Law and Culture Division and the International Law Division, the Law School, the College of Management Academic Studies.
• Menachem Fisch: Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science, Tel-Aviv University and Senior Fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute.
• Tamar Hermann: Dean of Academic Studies, the Open University of Israel, and Senior Research Fellow, the Israel Democracy Institute.
• Amnon Kapeliouk: Journalist, Le Monde diplomatique (Haaretz named Kapeliouk as one of the founders of B'Tselem^[38]).
• Peretz Kidron: Journalist and Translator.
• Menachem Klein: Lecturer in Political Science, Bar Ilan University.
• Victor Lederfarb: Financial Administrator, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
• David Neuhaus: Jesuit Priest, Reverend, Lecturer in Religious Studies at Bethlehem University and Seminary of the Holy Land in Beit Jala.
• Danny Rubinstein: Journalist, Haaretz Newspaper.
• Alla Shainskaya: Senior Staff Scientist, Weizmann Institute of Science.
• Ronny Talmor: Author and editor.
• Oren Yiftachel: professor of political geography and urban planning, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
• Rayef Zreik: Co-founder of Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Tel-Aviv University.

Board members have changed over the past 10 years. Four board members from 1998 remain on the board in 2008.^[39][40]

Staff[link]

The group's executive director is Jessica Montell. In 2011 the group staff has 38 employees in a Research Department, a Data Coordination department, a communications department, and an administration department.^[2] Field data research in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for B'Tselem was, until the Second Intifada, performed by Israeli Arabs. Data analysis and dissemination was conducted at the Jerusalem office. Because of restriction on entry to these areas for Israeli citizens, the Israeli Arab field workers were replaced with similarly qualified Palestinian Arabs who transmit research data to the office via fax or phone, sometimes negotiating checkpoints to reach the Jerusalem office for debriefings.^[41]

Attacks on staff[link]

B'Tselem staff members have been both verbally and physically attacked by both Israeli settlers and military/police, including the assault of two of its fieldworker staff. According to B'Tselem, in one such incident, captured on film on 19 January 2008, a fieldworker was beaten by Israeli soldiers, then arrested for attacking them.^[42] In another, on 20 June 2008, according to the organization, a worker was beaten and had his film confiscated after filming IDF troops ignoring violent crimes by Israeli settlers. Following B’Tselem’s complaint, Israeli military police opened an investigation.^[43] The group also claims to have been the victim of other kinds of harassment, such as the slashing of tires on the organisation's jeep.

Funding[link]

B'Tselem is independent and is funded by contributions from foundations in Europe and North America and by private individuals in Israel and abroad, and by the governments of some EU countries and the European Commission.^[44]

According to B'Tselem, their donors include:^[44]

• British Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• Christian Aid (UK)
• Commission of the European Communities - 99,717 € per year (2007) ^[45]
• DanChurchAid (Denmark)
• Diakonia (Sweden)
• Development Corporation Ireland
• EED (Church Development Service, Germany)
• Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland
• Ford Foundation (USA)
• Foundation for Middle East Peace
• ICCO (Interchurch Organisation for Development Co-operation, Netherlands)
• International Commission of Jurists, Swedish Section
• Naomi and Nehemiah Cohen Foundation
• New Israel Fund (USA)
• Norwegian Foreign Ministry
• Shefa Fund
• SIVMO (Netherlands)
• Stichting Het Solidariteitsfonds (Netherlands)
• Trócaire (Ireland)

Critical commentary and response[link]

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (June 2011)

B'Tselem has come under intense fire from elements among Israel's nationalist camp. Early in 2011, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called for a parliamentary investigation of B'Tselem and other human rights organizations. These groups, he charged, "are clearly not concerned with human rights. They spread lies, they slander and incite against the state of Israel and against Israeli soldiers... Clearly these organizations are abetting terrorism and their only objective is to undermine Israel," he said in a speech to fellow members of his nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu ("Israel our homeland") party.^[5]

B'tselem's opponents have challenged the accuracy of its reports. The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), a pro-Israel media watchdog group, charged that B'tselem repeatedly classified Arab combatants and terrorists as civilian casualties.^{[46][47][48][49]} NGO Monitor, another opponent, claimed that B'tselem distorts its data and uses "abusive and demonizing rhetoric designed to elicit political support for Palestinians".^[50] Caroline B. Glick, deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post and former advisor to Benjamin Netanyahu, pointed to several instances where, she claimed, B'tselem had misrepresented Palestinian rioters or terrorists as innocent victims, or where B'tselem failed to report when an Arab allegedly changed his testimony about an attack by settlers.^[51][52] B'tselem and another human rights group are "radical leftist organizations with documented histories of falsifying and distorting data," charged Glick in an editorial.^[51] She charged fellow journalists who covered B'tselem's reports with "professional malpractice... As long as we continue to base our national debates and policies on enemy propaganda, it should surprise no one that Israel finds itself in its current dire predicament."^[51]

In each of these cases, B'tselem issued detailed rebuttals, based on its own research, as well as statistics and information from the Israeli army and international organizations.^[53][54][55] Although CAMERA challenges the reliability of B'Tselem's statistics and describes them as "grossly deceptive", CAMERA commentator Tamar Sternthal notes that B'Tselem's statistics on casualty figures are "cited widely by Western news organizations".^[56]

Representative publications[link]

• The Gaza Strip: One Big Prison (2007)
• Medical Personnel Harmed: The Delay, Abuse and Humiliation of Medical Personnel by Israeli Security Forces (2003)
• Thirsty for a Solution: The Water Shortage in the Occupied Territories and its Solution in the Final Status Agreement (2000)
• Land Grab: Israel's Settlement Policy in the West Bank (2002)

See also[link]

Human rights portal

• Human rights in Israel
• Hamoked
• Alternative information center
• Bimkom
• Bustan
• Meretz

References[link]

External links[link]

• B'Tselem official homepage

Motorcycle cop redirects here.

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German state police officer in Hamburg

A Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer in the force's distinctive dress uniform.

Mounted Tourist-Police officers in Petra, Jordan.

A group of Garda officers in the Republic of Ireland.

A motor officer patrolling in Arizona on a motorcycle.

A police officer (also known as a policeman or policewoman, and constable in some forces, particularly in the United Kingdom^[1][2] and other Commonwealth nations) is a warranted employee of a police force. In the United States, "officer" is the formal name of the lowest police rank; in many other countries "officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank, and the lowest rank is often "constable". Police officers are generally charged with the apprehension of criminals and the prevention and detection of crime, and the maintenance of public order. Police officers may be sworn to an oath, and have the power to arrest people and detain them for a limited time, along with other duties and powers.

Some police officers may also be trained in special duties, such as counter-terrorism, surveillance, child protection, VIP protection, and investigation techniques into major crime, including fraud, rape, murder and drug trafficking.

Duties and functions[link]

Responsibilities of a police officer are varied, and may differ greatly from within one political context to another. Typical duties relate to keeping the peace, law enforcement, protection of people and property, and the investigation of crimes. Officers are expected to respond to a variety of situations that may arise while they are on duty. Rules and guidelines dictate how an officer should behave within the community, and in many contexts restrictions are placed on what the uniformed officer wears. In some countries, rules and procedures dictate that a police officer is obliged to intervene in a criminal incident, even if they are off-duty. Police officers in nearly all countries retain their lawful powers, while off duty.^[3]

In the community[link]

In the majority of Western legal systems, the major role of the police is to maintain order, keeping the peace through surveillance of the public, and the subsequent reporting and apprehension of suspected violators of the law. They also function to discourage crimes through high-visibility policing, and most police forces have an investigative capability. Police have the legal authority to arrest, usually granted by magistrates. Police officers also respond to emergency calls, along with routine community policing.

Police are often used as an emergency service and may provide a public safety function at large gatherings, as well as in emergencies, disasters, search and rescue situations, and Road Traffic Collisions. To provide a prompt response in emergencies, the police often coordinate their operations with fire and emergency medical services. In some countries, individuals serve jointly as police officers as well as firefighters (creating the role of Fire Police) or paramedics. In many countries, there is a common emergency service number that allows the police, firefighters, or medical services to be summoned to an emergency. Some countries, such as the United Kingdom have outlined command procedures, for the use in major emergencies or disorder. The Gold Silver Bronze command structure is a system set up to improve communications between ground based officers and the control room, typically, Bronze Commander would be a senior officer on the ground, coordinating the efforts in the center of the emergency, Silver Commanders would be positioned in an 'Incident Control Room' erected to improve better communications at the scene, and a Gold Commander who would be in the Control Room.

Police are also responsible for reprimanding minor offenders by issuing citations which typically may result in the imposition of fines, particularly for violations of traffic law. Traffic enforcement is often and effectively accomplished by police officers on motorcycles—called motor officers, these officers refer to the motorcycles they ride on duty as simply motors. Police are also trained to assist persons in distress, such as motorists whose car has broken down and people experiencing a medical emergency. Police are typically trained in basic first aid such as CPR.

In addition, some park rangers are commissioned as law enforcement officers and carry out a law-enforcement role within national parks and other back-country wilderness and recreational areas, whereas Military police perform law enforcement functions within the military.

Entry and promotion qualifications[link]

In most countries, candidates for the police force must have completed some formal education.^{[citation needed]} Increasing numbers of people are joining the police force who possess tertiary education^{[citation needed]} and in response to this many police forces have developed a "fast-track" scheme whereby those with university degrees spend two to three years as a Constable before receiving promotion to higher ranks, such as Sergeants or Inspectors. (Officers who work within investigative divisions or plainclothes are not necessarily of a higher rank but merely have different duties.)^{[citation needed]} Police officers are also recruited from those with experience in the military or security services. In the United States state laws may codify state-wide qualification standards regarding age, education, criminal record, and training but in other places requirements are set by local police agencies. Each local Police agency has different requirements.

Officers of the Polizia Municipale from Piacenza, Italy

Promotion is not automatic and usually requires the candidate to pass some kind of examination, interview board or other selection procedure. Although promotion normally includes an increase in salary, it also brings with it an increase in responsibility and for most, an increase in administrative paperwork. There is no stigma attached to this, as experienced line patrol officers are highly regarded.

Dependent upon each agency, but generally after completing two years of service, officers may also apply for specialist positions, such as detective, police dog handler, mounted police officer, motorcycle officer, water police officer, or firearms officer (in countries where police are not routinely armed).

In some countries such as in Singapore, police ranks may also be supplemented through conscription, similar to national service in the military. Qualifications may thus be relaxed or enhanced depending on the target mix of conscripts. In Singapore, for example, conscripts face tougher physical requirements in areas such as eyesight, but are less stringent with minimum academic qualification requirements. Some police officers join as volunteers, who again may do so via differing qualification requirements.

Police pay[link]

This section requires expansion.

In some societies, police officers are paid relatively well compared to other occupations; their pay depends on what rank they are within their police force and how many years they've served.^[4]

Occupational hazards[link]

Line of duty deaths[link]

Memorial to a fallen police officer at the Texas Department of Public Safety Houston Webster Office in Houston^[5]

Line of duty deaths are deaths which occur while an officer is conducting his or her appointed duties. Despite the increased risk of being a victim of a homicide, automobile accidents are the most common cause of officer deaths. Officers are more likely to be involved in traffic accidents because of their large amount of time spent conducting vehicle patrols, or directing traffic, as well as their work outside their vehicles alongside or on the roadway, or in dangerous pursuits. Officers killed by suspects make up a smaller proportion of deaths. In the U.S. in 2005, 156 line of duty deaths were recorded of which 44% were from assaults on officers, 35% vehicle related (only 3% during vehicular pursuits) and the rest from other causes: heart attacks during arrests/foot pursuits, diseases contracted either from suspects' body fluids or, more rarely, from emergency blood transfusions received after being in motor vehicle accidents, shot or stabbed, accidental gun discharges, falls, and drownings.^[6]

Police officers who die in the line of duty, especially those who die from the actions of suspects or in accidents or heart attacks, are often given elaborate funerals, attended by large numbers of fellow officers. Their families may also be entitled to special pensions. Fallen officers are often remembered in public memorials, such as the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in the U.S., the National Police Memorial in the U.K. and the Scottish Police Memorial, at the Scottish Police College.

In the United Kingdom, in the 10 years from April 2000 there were 143 line of duty deaths: 54 in road accidents travelling to or from duty, 46 in road accidents on duty, 23 from natural causes on duty, 15 from criminal acts, and 5 in other accidents.^[7] (In the United Kingdom, police do not normally carry firearms.)

The Singapore Police Force registered just over 100 deaths in a century up to the year 2000. There have been 28 New Zealand police officers killed by criminal act since 1890.^[8] Despite perceived dangers, policing has never been listed above number ten as one of the most dangerous jobs in the U.S. In terms of deaths per capita, driver-sales work such as food delivery is a more dangerous profession than being a police officer^[9].

Work stress[link]

Indicators[link]

The actual presence of stress in police work is well documented and evidenced by certain statistics. Researchers typically use suicide, divorce and alcoholism rates as three key indexes of stress in a group of people.^[10] These factors paint a compelling picture of police officers demonstrating signs of significant stress, for example:

• A study in the United States, by National Surveillance of Police Suicide Study (NSOPS), showed 141 suicides in 2008 and 143 in 2009. This yields a suicide rate of 17/100,000, a figure that holds up under scrutiny and is consistent with CDC/NOMS data.^[11] The overall suicide rate in the United States was 11.3 suicide deaths per 100,000 people.^[12] There is some speculation or controversy that this official rate may understate the actual rate as it is often other police officers that report facts that lead to a cause of death determination, and death benefits, institutional image, and other factors may be incentives to misreport incident facts. It is speculated that some suicides are reported by fellow officers as accidents or as deaths in the line of duty perpetrated by unknown assailants. Also, many jurisdictions simply don't keep suicide statistics. Even though the information is incomplete, the available statistics suggest that police officers are more likely to commit suicide than the general population. However there is still controversy in the interpretation of these statistics. When comparisons are made within age, gender, and racial cohorts, the differences are much less dramatic.^[13][14] Although suicides may be notably more prevalent among police, it is not clear whether police suicides are the result of work stress or the consequence of other variables, such as the influence of a subculture of violence^[15]
• Police officers are much more likely to experience interpersonal relationship problems. Relationship problems are most dramatically demonstrated by the divorce rate among police officers, which is usually reported as being the second highest of all occupations. However in a 2009 study, the divorce rates of law enforcement personnel were compared with the rates for other occupations, where data was analyzed from the 2000 U.S. Census. The results of the analysis indicate that the divorce rate for law enforcement personnel is lower than that of the general population, even after controlling for demographic and other job-related variables.^[16] The propensity to domestic violence is also thought to be higher for police officers than the general population, though the statistics are very fuzzy and controversial. Police officers also seem to have relationship problems at work, typically with superiors or with political oversight, though the evidence is largely anecdotal and controversial.
• Alcoholism is considered another aberrant statistic for police officers. Although the statistics are fuzzy, clinically treated alcohol addiction rates are usually calculated to be about twice as high for police officers than for the general population in the United States. In contrast, statistics documenting alcohol abuse are less precise. Rates for arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol, or DUI or DWI, are somewhat higher for police officers than for other drivers, but the statistics are not widely trusted outside of the insurance industry since it is other police officers that make DUI arrests. Some departments and even some individual officers tend to hold police officers to a higher behavioral and ethical standard while others will recognize a 'blue line' behind which those within the 'brotherhood' are not held to the same standards as the rest of society. Despite the controversies in the interpretation of the statistics, it is generally considered evident that police officers are more susceptible to alcohol abuse than other occupations. The same conclusions are usually made regarding the police abuse of other substances, though the statistics are even less accurate, and even though the higher rates of substance abuse may be due in part to the more ready access to drugs and the more permissive atmosphere 'behind the blue line' rather than to occupational stresses.

Hans Selye, the foremost researcher in stress in the world, said that police work is "the most stressful occupation in America even surpassing the formidable stresses of air traffic control."^[10]

Other researchers, though, claim that police officers are more psychologically healthy than the general population. Police officers are increasingly more educated, more likely to engage in a regular program of exercise and to consume less alcohol and tobacco, and increasingly family-oriented. Healthy behavior patterns typically observed at entry training usually continue throughout the career of an officer. Even though the presence of occupation related stress seems to be well documented, it is highly controversial. Many within the law enforcement industry claim the propagation of incorrect suicide, divorce, and substance abuse statistics comes from people or organizations with political or social agendas, and that the presence of these beliefs within the industry makes it hard for health workers to help police officers in need of treatment to deal with the fear of negative consequences from police work which is necessary to enable police officers to develop a healthy expectancy of success in treatment.^[17]

Sources[link]

Even though the presence of occupational stresses appear to be well documented, though not without controversy, the causes of workplace stress are comparatively unclear or even a matter of conjecture.

Although individual policemen and institutional public relations typically cite the risks of being killed in the line of duty as the predominant source of stress for individual policemen, there is significant controversy regarding the causes of personal workplace stress due to the fact that the actual risk of being killed is so small relative to other occupations.

It is charged that the myth of the high risks of occupational mortality connected with police work is often propagated by the law enforcement community as part of its institutional advancement and a central element in its public relations. Actual homicides of police are comparatively rare, but the reports of such incidents are typically reported in the press along with quotes by police officials or police officer family members stressing the notion that police officers 'put their lives on the line for the public' or 'risk their lives everyday', making it look like individual policemen routinely place themselves in mortal danger for low pay and little recognition, and that the view of police work as 'combat' is the source of police occupational stress indications.

Another explanation often advanced is the idea that police officers will undergo some traumatic experience in their police work that they never recover from, leading to suicide, divorce, etc. However, since the effects of such traumatic stresses is readily recognized, there are usually proactive programs in place to help individual police officers deal with the psychological effects of a traumatic event. Unfortunately, there is some evidence that such programs are actually ineffective, especially group therapies, may re-traumatize the participant, weaken coping mechanisms, and contribute to the development of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).^[18][19][20]

Observations where police officers and other emergency workers, such as firemen, experience the same traumatic event, it is more likely that the police officer will have difficulty dealing with the long term emotional effects of the traumatic event. On this observation, some of the academic literature suggests that along these lines the causes of occupational stress is more complex for police officers. Stress in police work is often present in other occupations, but not in an ongoing capacity. One line of thinking is that the individual stresses of police work produce a condition of chronic stress. Police officers encounter stressors in call after call which sap their emotional strength. Debilitation from this daily stress accumulates making officers more vulnerable to traumatic incidents and normal pressures of life. The weakening process is often too slow to see; neither a person nor his friends are aware of the damage being done. The effects of chronic stresses is two-fold:

• First, prolonged stress causes people to regress. Their psychological growth reverses, and they become more immature. They rapidly become more childish and primitive, much like a person being sick for several days becoming more irritable and childish in its demands on other people.
• Second, chronic stress numbs people's sensitivity. They can't stand to continually see human misery. They must stop feeling or they won't survive. The mind has this defense mechanism so people can continue working in horrible situations. If they kept their normal sensitivity, they would fall apart. As they become insensitive to their own suffering, they become insensitive to the suffering of others. When treated with indignity, they lose not only a sense of their own dignity but also the dignity of others. The pain of others stops bothering them, and they are no longer bothered when they hurt others.

The daily work of a police officer involves certain paradoxes and conflicts which may be difficult to deal with, the predominant examples are^[10]

• Any interaction with a member of the public, whether socially or officially, such as in a traffic stop, involves a non-trivial risk of verbal abuse or physical harm. Treating a person with common respect or normal social graces requires the officer to be off guard and unprepared for an attack. Being on guard for an attack and treating every interpersonal situation with safety procedures and affirmative commands makes the police officer appear cynical, brutal, and detached, and limits his actual effectiveness with the public. Considering someone a friend or an enemy produces opposite mental states, an unnatural no-win situation engendering chronic stress.
• A police department is both a professional and military organization, and these two aspects oppose each other. As a professional, he is considered to be an expert in his field and is expected to use his expertise for the good of his public. He has much discretion in how he serves the people who call upon him. However, the dangers and complexities of the work require a military structure of the organization and a military leaning in the training. Although some are actually educated, all police officers are well trained. Policies, regulations, and procedures cover every facet of police work. Everything is expected to be done by the book with substantial repercussions, including civil and criminal liability, for varying from the expectations of operating procedures. Often the facts of a situation require a course of action that does not follow procedures. If he follows procedures exactly, he knows he won't fully help the public, and the public will think he is shirking his responsibility. If the officer follows his own judgment, he is taking a risk. The community and department expect officers to use judgment, but when they do, there is a danger they will be disciplined; another unnatural no-win situation engendering chronic stress.
• Police officers tend to become socially isolated. The reasons given for this isolation are varied and mostly anecdotal. One theory is that police work is not balanced. Most occupations involve a combination of good and bad results. In police work, almost everything is bad, and everybody you deal with is perceived either inherently bad or at least foolish. Another is that police officers develop a 'street wisdom' and by fiat possess a degree of authority that tends to make them perceive themselves as being morally superior to the rest of society. Whatever the reason, the public that the police deal with clearly perceive it and tend to reinforce the divide. Classically when a group of people are isolated, they become disoriented and confused. Their behavior changes drastically. Ironically an isolated class are usually the ones who are losing real world wisdom and tend to judge the world incorrectly from a very limited perspective, leading to interpersonal mistakes and more chronic stress.^{[citation needed]}

A more colloquial view looks at specific sources of stress in police work.^[21] The sources of stress most often actually cited are:

• The fear of killing someone in the line of duty.
• Having your partner or somebody else that you feel at least partly responsible for killed in the line of duty.
• Lack of support by the department or superiors.
• The scheduling of work and irregular work demands resulting in a disruption of family time or family events or rituals.
• The daily grind of dealing with the stupidity of the public, or the "asshole factor".

Other more academic studies have produced similar lists, but may include items that the more colloquial surveys do not reveal, such as 'exposure to neglected, battered, or dead children'^[22]

Again, the actual fear of occupational death or physical harm is not high on the list of stress sources.

There have been numerous academic studies on the specific sources of police stress, and most conclude organizational culture and workload as the key issues in officer stress.^[23] Traumatic events are usually concluded to not be of sufficient scope or prevalence to account for prevalence of suicide, divorce, and substance abuse abnormalities.

Personality theories[link]

Some of the more esoteric, least documented or cited, and more longstanding theories for police stress symptoms involves the interaction of the specifics of police work with the personalities of individual police officers. There has been a raging debate on the fringes of psychiatry as to whether there is something about police work that causes psychiatric symptomology and personality disorders or whether there are certain personalities susceptible to disorders that are attracted to police work. Theory holds that there are four general possibilities:

• There is something about police work, the social structure, the work atmosphere, etc., which causes stresses or presents traumas that cause personality or psychiatric disorders resulting in symptoms such as suicide, divorce, violence, substance abuse, etc. (the foundations of this possibility are outlined above)
• There is one or more personality types or people with certain tendencies or proclivities who are susceptible of developing personality or psychiatric disorders, regardless of their occupation, who because of their personality or preferences are attracted to police work, and then display symptoms of stress or disorders.
• There is a combination of the two.
• Or there is a combination and synergistic interaction of the two.

Some studies have tried to use personality traits to determine police applicant desirability,^[24]. These have generally looked at psychology's Big Five personality traits of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. These studies have suggested that age, cynicism and institutional culture affect performance.

There are other personality traits that are specifically not desired for police work that are equally well documented. However, there has been relatively little academic work cited regarding the personality traits attracted to police work. The nature of personality traits of people attracted to police work tends to be a matter of conjecture and anecdotal observations. The personalities of people who are actually in police work tends to be different from that which is purported to be desired by police departments. Police officers tend to be isolated and suspicious, view expression of emotions as a weakness, and find it hard to trust and confide in others.^[25] For example, police officers are often viewed by the public to be domineering, narcissistic, authoritarian, physically oppressive, and basically the opposite of the personality traits most often cited as being desirable in a police officer. There are studies that suggest that people who take risks are attracted to police work.^[26] There is a corresponding theory that police officers actually tend to be people seeking security and stability and are attracted to the job for the steady government paycheck and government pension and adverse to the risks of business, sales, or other occupations. There is ample evidence that there is something in police work that alters personality.

The theory that there is an interaction between the personality attracted to the work and the work itself is mostly conjecture. For example, people attracted to police work are thought to crave the respect and authority that they expect with a badge, gun, uniform, and commission, but most of the people that police officers come in contact with do not respect them, and their authority is strongly regulated and limited by law, policies, and procedures, setting up a conflict resulting in chronic stress.

Abuse of power[link]

Police officers have considerable powers and are often supported by authorities who oversee them if accused of wrongdoing.^[27]

Systematic cases[link]

In dictatorial, corrupt, or weak states, police officers may carry out many criminal acts for the ruling regime with impunity. Examples are the Gestapo secret police in Nazi Germany, and the role of the police in the military dictatorship in Argentina in the 1970s.^[28] Institutional racism has been found in modern police forces.^[29]

Individual cases[link]

Individual officers, or sometimes whole units, can be corrupt or carry out various other forms of misconduct; this occasionally happens in many forces, but is particularly problematic where police pay is very low unless supplemented by bribes.^[30] Police sometimes act with unwarranted brutality when they overreact to confrontational situations,^[31] to extract a confession from a person they may or may not genuinely suspect of being guilty,^[32] or in other circumstances. Instances of racism occur, even when the police force as a whole is not found to be racist.^[33]

See also[link]

• The Thin Blue Line (emblem)
• Cops (TV series)
• Fictional police officers
• Field Training Officer
• List of slang terms for police officers
• Military police
• Peace officer
• Police brutality
• Police rank
• Police procedural
• President Grover Cleveland—former Sheriff of Erie County, New York
• President Theodore Roosevelt—Deputy Sheriff in the Dakota Territory, and New York City Police Commissioner

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Police officers

• Thin Blue Line Emblem
• http://www.discoverpolicing.org
• Metropolitan Police history
• http://www.newscotlandyard.police.uk/foi/pdfs/other_information/corporate/operational_uniform_and_equipment.pdf
• http://www.west-midlands.police.uk/publications/freedom-of-information/policy.asp?id=144
• http://www.gmp.police.uk/mainsite/pages/pcsouniform.htm,ts=2
• http://www.policelink.com

Nabi Saleh
Born	Nabi Saleh Iran
Residence	Australia
Education	Masters degree in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics
Occupation	Chief Executive Officer
Employer	Gloria Jean's Coffees
Known for	Tea & Coffee Industry
Term	1996 - Present
Successor	Incumbent
Religion	Pentecostal
Spouse	Angela
Children	Nicole, Danielle

Nabi Saleh (born ?) is an Australian businessman and commodities trader, known for his role for founding Gloria Jean's Coffees. He also currently serves as an elder of the Hillsong Church.^[1]

Biography[link]

Saleh was born on the same day of the same year as Gloria Jean's co-owner Peter Irvine.^[2] He was born in Iran and grew up in various countries including India. His family background in involved in the tea business (from his mother's side). He is married to Angela with daughters Nicole and Danielle, both of whom also work for Gloria Jean's.^[3] He holds a masters degree in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics^[2] from ?

Saleh followed his wife-to-be Angela to Australia in 1973. Lacking local work experience, he went to Papua New Guinea to help establish tea plantations^[2] with Australian New Guinea (ANG) Holdings. He oversaw the marketing and manufacturing of tea and coffee in Papua New Guinea and continues to consult with the Australian and PNG governments.^[4]

From 1978, Saleh developed Asco, a medium-sized coffee company from revenues of $250,000 to $15 million. Asco was then acquired by Burns Philp.^[4] He then started Columbia Coffee and Tea^[4] in 1983, Tea and Coffee Traders in 1986, and in 1989 established Maranatha Import Exports, representing ConAgra Foods in Australia.^[2] Maranatha supplied supermarket chains Woolworths, Coles, Franklins and David's Holdings.^[3]

Saleh also worked for Traveland International, where he was responsible for the procurement of hotel rooms on a worldwide basis.

In 1995, he started Gloria Jeans.^[3] In 1996, he formed Jireh International Pty Ltd, which now holds the global rights to Gloria Jeans franchising.^[5]

• Buys direct from growers, pays a fair price, supports Rainforest Alliance because he believes all companies should be socially minded for the benefit of humanity.^[6]
• traded commodities (coffee, tea and cocoa)^[2]
• grows own coffee trees in backyard^[2]

Saleh became a Christian in 1978 at a Kenneth Copeland convention,^[2] is a Pentecostal Christan,^[4] and is a board member of Hillsong Church.

Gloria Jean's history[link]

• offered master franchise for Australia in 1993^[6]
• 1995 had a dream which led to the vision, mission and values of the company; bought the master franchise for Australia^[6]
• November 1996 - opened first two stores (Miranda & East Gardens); losing money, ineffective model (china and crockery oriented)^[6]
• Changed model over next 18 months^[6]
• in 2000 bought the NZ franchise
• in 2004/2005 bought global brand
• now in more than 50 nations with 30 operational
• Original founder was Gloria Jean Kvetko (hairdresser but passionate about coffee)^[6]
• built it to just under 150 stores and sold to Brothers Gourmet Coffee for $40M^[6]
• Saleh's wife Angela and daughter, Nicole, own equal shares in Tea & Coffee Traders, which owns 50% of Jireh (the owner of Gloria Jean's).

Other leadership roles[link]

• Director of Southern Cross College of the AOG
• Director of Jerry Savelle Ministries International
• Director of Kenneth Copeland Ministries Eagle Mountain International Church
• Gourmet Foods Australia
• Petra Gourmet Coffee
• Brothers Gourmet Coffees
• Maranatha Import Export (which sells private-label coffee to supermarkets)
• Director of Tea & Coffee Traders

External links[link]

• The coffee kings; Sunday, 24 April 2005; http://businesssunday.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=47402

References[link]

This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (November 2010)

Tokio Hotel
Tokio Hotel, 2010. L-R: Georg Listing, Bill Kaulitz, Tom Kaulitz, and Gustav Schäfer
Background information
Origin	Magdeburg, Germany
Genres	Pop rock,[1][2] alternative rock,[3] emo,[4] glam rock,[5] power pop,[6][7][8][9]
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Universal Music Germany, Cherrytree, Interscope
Website	www.tokiohotel.com
Members
Bill Kaulitz Tom Kaulitz Georg Listing Gustav Schäfer

Tokio Hotel is a rock band from Germany, founded in 2001 by singer Bill Kaulitz, guitarist Tom Kaulitz, drummer Gustav Schäfer and bassist Georg Listing.^[10] The quartet have scored four number one singles and have released three number one albums in their native country, selling nearly 5 million CDs and DVDs there.^[11] After recording an unreleased demo-CD under the name "Devilish" and having their contract with Sony BMG Germany terminated, the band released their first German-language album, Schrei, as Tokio Hotel on Universal Music Germany in 2005. Schrei sold more than half a million copies worldwide^[12] and spawned four top five singles in both Germany and Austria. In 2007, the band released their second German album Zimmer 483 and their first English album Scream which have combined album sales of over one million copies worldwide and helped win the band their first MTV Europe Music Award for Best InterAct. The former, Zimmer 483, spawned three top five singles in Germany while the latter, Scream, spawned two singles that reached the top twenty in new territories such as France, Portugal, Spain and Italy. In September 2008, they won in the US their first MTV Video Music Award (VMA) for Best New Artist. In October 2008, they won four awards including Best International Artist and Song of the year at Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica (MTV Video Music Awards Latin America) held in Mexico. Tokio Hotel became the first German band ever to win an award at the MTV VMAs and also at the MTV Latin America Awards. They also picked up the Headliner award at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008 held in Liverpool on November 6, 2008 and the Award for Best Group on November 5, 2009 at the MTV Europe Music Award (EMA) held in Berlin. They won an Award for Best World Stage Performance on November 7, 2010 at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Madrid. In July 2011, they became the first German band to win an MTV Video Music Awards Japan (VMAJ). And won MTV's 2012 Musical March Madness.

History[link]

[edit] Formation (2001 - 2004)

Tokio Hotel by vocalist Bill Kaulitz and guitarist Tom Kaulitz, who are identical twin brothers, drummer Gustav Schäfer and bass-guitarist Georg Listing. The four met in 2001 after a live show in a Magdeburg-Club, where Listing and Schäfer, who knew each other from music school, watched from the audience while Bill and Tom Kaulitz played on the stage.^[13][14] Under the name Devilish, the band soon began playing in talent shows and small concerts.^[15] After Bill Kaulitz's participation in a children's Star Search in 2003 at age thirteen (which he lost in the quarter-final), he was discovered by music producer Peter Hoffmann. Devilish changed their name to Tokio Hotel: "Tokio", the German spelling of the Japanese city Tokyo, due to a love of the city, and "Hotel" due to their constant touring and living in hotels.^[13] Soon after Sony BMG took them under contract, Hoffmann hired David Jost and Pat Benzner into the team of creators and authors, and had them give the teens instruction on songwriting and instrument playing; most of the songs of the first album were written by Hoffmann, Jost and Benzer (including the singles "Scream" and "Rescue me" which were completely written by them), only the single "Unendlichkeit" was written completely by Tokio Hotel themselves. Shortly before release of their first album, Sony terminated their contract. The band is now one of the biggest modern acts from Germany and the biggest in 20 years.

[edit] Schrei (2005 - 2006)

Bill Kaulitz performing in Hessisch-Lichtenau, Germany in 2006.

In 2005, Universal Music Group took Tokio Hotel under contract and developed a marketing plan. Their first single, "Durch den Monsun" ("Through the Monsoon"), quickly rose in the charts, appearing on the German official Media Control single chart at #15 on August 20, 2005 and eventually reaching #1 on August 26, 2005; it also reached #1 on the Austrian singles chart. Their second single, "Schrei" ("Scream"), climbed to the #5 position in the German charts. These two songs were written by singer Bill Kaulitz together with their group of producers Peter Hoffmann, David Jost, Pat Benzer and Dave Roth. Their debut album, Schrei, was released on September 19, 2005, and was certified triple gold by the BVMI in 2006 for selling over 300,000 copies in Germany.^[16] In 2006, a third and fourth single, "Rette mich" ("Rescue Me") and "Der letzte Tag" ("The Final Day"), were released; both reached #1 as well. "Der letzte Tag" contained a B-side called "Wir schließen uns ein", which was also accompanied by a music video.

[edit] Zimmer 483 (2007 - 2008)

The first single off their second album Zimmer 483 (Room 483), called "Übers Ende der Welt" (later re-released in English under the name "Ready, Set, Go!"), was released on January 26, 2007 and quickly reached #1 in Germany and Austria, and #2 in France. Zimmer 483 was released in Germany on February 23, 2007, along with a deluxe edition of the album containing a DVD. The album's second single, "Spring nicht" ("Don't Jump") was released on April 7. The tour accompanying the release of the album, The Zimmer 483 Tour, was scheduled to start in March 2007, but was delayed by two weeks because the band members wished to have a different stage design. A third single, "An deiner Seite (Ich bin da)" ("By Your Side"), was released on November 16. The single contains the B-side "1000 Meere" ("1000 Oceans"), for which a music video was also produced. On April 28, 2008 Tokio Hotel released their single "Heilig" but no music video for the single was released, because of the tight schedule they had.

[edit] Scream (2007 - 2008)

Tokio Hotel's first English language album, Scream, was released on June 4, 2007 throughout Europe. In Germany, the album was released as Room 483 in order to emphasize the continuity with their last German album Zimmer 483. Scream contains English versions of a selection of songs from their German-language albums Scream and Zimmer 483. "Monsoon", the English-language version of "Durch den Monsun", was the first single from the album. "Ready, Set, Go!" (the translation of "Übers Ende der Welt") was released as the album's second single and "Don't Jump" (the translation of "Spring nicht") as the third single. A video for "Scream", the English-language version of their 2005 hit "Schrei", was also recorded, and was released to the iTunes Store in early March 2008.

Tokio Hotel gave their first concert in the United Kingdom on June 19, 2007. "Ready, Set, Go!" was released in the UK as the band's first single on August 27, 2007. The song reached #77 in the UK Singles Chart.

Tokio Hotel won an MTV Europe Music Award for Best InterAct on November 1, 2007 and were also nominated for Best Band. They performed "Monsoon" at the event.

Tokio Hotel released their first US single, simply called "Tokio Hotel", in late 2007. The single contains the tracks "Scream" and "Ready, Set, Go!", and was available exclusively at Hot Topic stores. Their second US single, "Scream America", was released on December 11, 2007. The single contains the track "Scream" and a remix of "Ready, Set, Go!" by AFI's Jade Puget. In February 2008, the band toured North America for five dates starting in Canada and finishing up in New York.^[17] After appearing and performing live on MuchMusic, while touring in Canada, "Ready, Set, Go!" entered the MuchOnDemand Daily 10, a countdown of videos chosen by viewers. It remained there for over a week, then returned to the top of the MOD Daily 10 chart on April 8. "Scream" was released in Canada on March 25 and in the US on May 6. The "1000 Hotels" European Tour began on March 3, 2008 in Brussels and continued to locations including The Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Scandinavia, and was scheduled to finish on April 9; during the concert in Marseille, France on March 14, Bill started to experience vocal problems.^[18] He let the audience sing more frequently than normal and instead of the original 21 songs that were on the set list, they only played 16 songs. Bill apologized, in German, for his bad singing and explained that he was sick. Two days later, the band canceled Lisbon, Portugal concert minutes before it was supposed to commence. The rest of the "1000 Hotels" Tour and a scheduled North American Tour were cancelled following an announcement in Bild by the band's manager that Bill Kaulitz had to undergo surgery to remove a cyst on his vocal cords.^[19][20]

Bill Kaulitz had been putting strain on his voice after playing 43 concerts in the 1000 Hotels tour without vacation.^[21] He had to undergo Larynx surgery on March 30 to remove a cyst that had formed on his vocal cords.^[22] The cyst was the result of a throat infection that went untreated.^[23] Following his surgery, Bill was unable to speak for twelve days, and had four weeks of vocal rehabilitation.^[24] If Bill had continued singing the rest of the tour, his voice would have eventually been permanently damaged.^[18][25] Tokio Hotel started performing again in May 2008^[26] and after that they embarked on a 2nd part of their 1000 Hotels European Tour adding many Open Air concerts and wrapping up the tour on July 13 in Werchter, Belgium.

[edit] North American Tours and Humanoid (2009 - 2010)

This section is outdated. Please update this section to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (November 2010)

Tokio Hotel embarked on a second tour of North America in August 2008, which included a performance at the Bamboozled festival in New Jersey. The band's music video for "Ready Set Go!" was nominated for Best Pop Video at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards,^[27] where they also won the award for Best New Artist.^[28] They returned to North America again in October 2008 for a month long tour of concerts and record store signings. In December 2008, a behind-the scenes DVD called Tokio Hotel TV – Caught on Camera was released. It contains footage from Tokio Hotel TV and backstage feature stories of the previous year on disc one entitled "History – The very best of Tokio Hotel TV!". A deluxe edition contains a second disc entitled "Future – The road to the new Album!" which features footage of the band on promotion tours and preparing for their third studio album.^[29]

In between the North American tours, the band returned to their record studio in Hamburg to record their third studio album, Humanoid, which, according to their producer David Jost, is currently set for release on October 2 in Germany & October 6, 2009 in the U.S.^[30][31][32] This is despite earlier statements predicting a March/April 2009 release or a May/June 2009 release.^[33][34][35] The album was recorded in both German and English with both versions were released simultaneously worldwide.^[34][35]

On August 10, it was announced on MTV news that the first German single would be "Automatisch" and its English counterpart, "Automatic", would also be released as a first single in the United States. On August 20, MTV Buzzworthy released a video which previewed "Automatic" and Cherrytree Records announced that the English version of the song would be released in the US on September 22.^[36][37] Nevertheless, the video for the single was released on September 3.

On November 2, it was announced on Tom's Blog that the second English single would be "World Behind My Wall" and its German counterpart, "Lass uns laufen", would be the second German single.^[38] The music videos for both versions were released on December 14 and December 15.

On June 24, the live music video for their single, "Dark Side of the Sun" was released on the band website.

On July 20, 2010 they released their second live album Humanoid City Live from Milan, Italy On November 22, 2010, their new song "Hurricanes and Suns," premiered on the Greek radio station Mad Radio. It was included in the bonus track on all versions of "Tokio Hotel: Best Of," a compilation album of their most successful songs. As well as the single for the 'Best of' release. The album will also include "Mädchen aus dem All", the first song the band recorded in a studio.

On December 14, 2010 their 'Best of' was released. December 2 was the World Premiere of the video for "Hurricanes and Suns" on their Official Website. On April 28, 2011 they received the "Fan Army FTW" award at the MTV O Music Awards, the networks first online award show. A clip of Bill and Tom thanking their fans was played after the winner was announced.

Tokio Hotel performed their first concert in Asia (excluding their concert in Israel) at the Audi Showcase in Singapore, followed shortly by the TM Connects With Tokio Hotel event in Malaysia, promoting the sales of their album Humanoid. They concluded the series of mini-concerts with Taiwan. They returned to Malaysia a couple of months later to perform at MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2010. They performed in Tokyo on December 15, 2010, after their South American Tour concluded in Distrito Federal, Mexico on December 2, 2010. In February, 2011 Tokio Hotel travelled to Japan to complete a second promo tour. A number of TV appearances and media interviews took place between February 8 and February 11.

On June 24, 2011 Tokio Hotel performed in Japan at “The Next Premium Night Tokio Hotel in Tokyo". The event was presented by Audi A1 and 150 fans were chosen to win tickets to attend the show. The event was the band's first acoustic performance in Japan. On June 25, 2011 the band performed live at the MTV Video Music Aid Japan in Tokyo. The show, which was formerly called the Video Music Awards Japan, was used as a music benefit to raise money for the Japanese Red Cross in order to help those who were affected by the recent earthquake.

Modeling and commercials[link]

This section is outdated. Please update this section to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (January 2010)

On January 19, 2010, lead singer Bill Kaulitz teamed up with twins Dean and Dan Caten of DSquared to walk the runway at a fashion event in Milan.^[39] Kaulitz made two appearances, as he opened and closed DSquared's Menswear Autumn/Winter 2010 show to Tokio Hotel song "Screamin".^[40]

Car maker Audi hired the two frontmen to star in their new advertising campaign to attract the younger generation. They were featured in an episode of Tokio Hotel TV (on Tokio Hotel's website) and also in a commercial.^[41]

On August 4, 2010, Tom Kaulitz got his own Reebok shoe commercial.^[42] Reebok signed the 20-year-old Tokio Hotel guitarist and sneaker addict to model shoes for the company. "At home, I created a little room like a little storage room," he said of his sneakers. He also said that he gets 10 new pairs a week.^[42]

Best Of Tokio Hotel (2010)[link]

At 13th December in Germany and 14th December internationally Tokio Hotel released their first compilation album named "Best Of". It comes in two languages: english and german. It contains the most popular songs from all the previous albums and two new songs: "Hurricanes and Suns" (was recorded for Humanoid but not included in it) and "Mädchen aus dem All" (was recorded for Schrei but not included in it).There is a deluxe edition too which comes with both german and english versions of album and a bonus DVD with all Tokio Hotel's music videos and "making of" scenes.

[edit] New album and duet with Far East Movement (2011 - present)

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After finishing "Welcome To Humanoid City Tour" Bill and Tom with their manager David Jost moved to Los Angeles and still are living there. They said they are working on the new album, which will be released in the late 2012. Paparazzies caught Bill, Tom and Gustav in a shop in Los Angeles. MTV said the new album will be named "Dark Anthem".^[43]. Bill and Tom released an app named "BTK Twins" for iOS (16 January 2012),^[44] and Android(19 December 2011),^[45] for keeping in touch with their fans. Here Bill and Tom post their photos, videos and text messages, and fans can leave messages for posts. Bill and Tom answer to these comments very often. The app costs 2.99$, and if a user wants to leave comments besides watching only he must pay 0.99$ a month. Tokio Hotel launched a service named "VIP Call".^[46] Fans may pay 4.99 Euros for a month or 3.49 Euros for 3 months and Tokio Hotel call them and leave audio messages. Fans can even ask them questions and Tokio Hotel will answer to them. On 18 May 2012 Far East Movement released an album named "Dirty Bass". In it there is a song named "If I Die Tomorrow" which is a duet with Bill. Far East Movement accepted there will be a music video released for "If I Die Tomorrow" soon. Bill Kaulitz will take part in shootings too.

Band members[link]

• Bill Kaulitz - lead vocals
• Tom Kaulitz - guitar, piano, backing vocals
• Georg Listing - bass, keyboards, synthesizers, backing vocals
• Gustav Schäfer - drums, percussion, backing vocals

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Schrei (2005)
• Zimmer 483 (2007)
• Scream (2007)
• Humanoid (2009)
• Best Of (2010)

Awards[link]

Since the release of the "Durch den Monsun" single in 2005, Tokio Hotel have gone on to win 104 awards in various categories and countries.

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tokio Hotel

• Official site
• Cherrytree records profile
• Interscope records profile
• Tokio Hotel on MySpace
• Tokio Hotel on Facebook
• Tokio Hotel on Twitter
• Tokio Hotel on MTV