Senior officials in the legal system have confirmed long-standing public suspicion by stating that it is official policy not to ticket illegally parked police cars, regardless of whether or not officers are responding to an emergency.

“City workers in Tel Aviv-Yafo do not write parking tickets for police vans. This is in line with legal orders and with the Attorney General’s position on the matter,” according to a letter written by Moshe Tyomkin, who is responsible for parking in Tel Aviv.

The letter, sent to attorney Pini Fischler, was published by Channel 2 news. It stated that city workers across the country may not write tickets for police.

The Justice Ministry confirmed that the Attorney General did indeed instruct city workers not to ticket police, but said the instruction applied to police vans alone, not to regular police vehicles.

In recent years many people have snapped pictures of illegally parked police vehicles and posted them on social networking sites.

Responses to the report were mixed. Some commenters denounced the parking rules as a sign of corruption, and accused police of acting as if they are above the law. Others warned that if police have to worry about parking legally, it could slow their response to emergencies or reports of violence.