Lebanese policeman. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP Archives)
While civil servants’ salaries have yet to be adjusted following the national currency’s collapse, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) announced in early March a campaign to recruit 800 male and female cadet policemen.
Launched on Mar. 6 and published on the ISF official website, the recruitment campaign targets candidates who applied in 2018 and 2019, passed the medical, written and physical fitness tests and still wish to join the ISF.
The objective is to replenish the ISF ranks, which have shrunk since 2019 in a way that poses a threat to the state’s ability to carry out a key sovereign mission.
This announcement followed a recent decision by the caretaker cabinet, published in the Official Gazette on Feb. 28, 2024. It came amid a sharp devaluation of the Lebanese lira, which is now trading at LL89,500 to the US dollar, compared with LL1,507.5 before the start of the multifaceted crisis in 2019.
Hence, the purchasing power of civil servants, including the ISF, dropped significantly, with their salaries paid in lira dwindling below $100.
Apart from those who left due to retirement, the number of deserters increased. “Before the 2019 crisis, the ISF had 30,000 members. Today there are only around 24,500, of whom 500 retire every year,” said a security source who declined to be named, pointing to the institution’s pressing need for staff.
Based on reports the Interior Ministry sent to the caretaker cabinet, the Arabic-language Alqaous news website referred to “1,107 desertions from the ISF from Oct. 17, 2019 to Dec. 15, 2023 and 5,338 departures for legal reasons since 2017.”
The ISF’s statement indicated that anyone who applied in 2018-2019 is eligible to complete the online form on the institution’s website from Mar. 8 to Mar. 28. Applicants among the holders of a university degree or its official equivalent must be over the age of 30 on Dec. 31, 2024, while the other candidates must not be older than 27. They must also be single, divorced without children or widowed without children.
The candidates must submit their applications in person with completed and signed forms at all regional gendarmery stations and Beirut police stations from Mar. 8, 2024 until Mar. 28, 2024 inclusive.
But why are only candidates who have already applied in 2018 and 2019 eligible? “Because the procedure is long and tedious, and it is way faster to recruit candidates who have already completed the eligibility procedures and tests. Not to mention that those who have already applied should be given a chance, provided that they still want to join the ISF,” said the source.
The 800 recruits are expected to be assigned to various internal security departments within the ISF. As for the female candidates, whose number has still not been determined, “they will receive the same pay as their male colleagues,” the same source added.
However, the ISF statement made no mention of the salaries. “A newly recruited policeman would receive a salary equivalent to around $260, after multiplying the basic salary by nine and increasing transportation allowances,” estimated another source close to the file.
At the same meeting, the caretaker cabinet granted servicemen across all institutions monthly transportation allowances of LL9 million, in addition to a lump-sum allowance of LL12 million (Decree no. 13019).
It also granted them monthly social assistance equivalent to their salary multiplied by nine (Decree no. 13020).
All of this represents a minimal and temporary improvement, in the absence of a new salary scale that would adjust the civil servants’ salaries.
According to Alqaous, after the recent readjustments granted on Feb. 28, “the average monthly salaries of ISF agents vary from the equivalent of $295 in lira for a policeman and a caporal, to $703 for a general.” These salaries can’t make a family’s ends meet.
“ISF salaries may be among the lowest, but the institution is one of the few not to have gone on strike. It has continued its mission despite the crisis,” said the security source.
“Thanks to the ISF, backed up by the Lebanese Army, Beirut is a safe capital,” said Omar Nashabeh, director of Alqaous and author of studies on prisons in Lebanon.
“But to keep pace with the demographic changes, more staff need to be hired, and the law needs to be amended accordingly,” he added.
Will these steps be enough to convince candidates?
This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour. Translated by Joelle El Khoury.