Foreigners to join community police

Hassan Hassan

• Last Updated: November 18. 2009 7:10PM UAE / November 18. 2009 3:10PM GMT

ABU DHABI // The capital’s police force is to recruit foreigners to work as community officers.

Recruitment will begin within two weeks in an effort by the police to reach out to non-Emirati residents.

It is hoped that the whole of Abu Dhabi, and its different communities, will be served by the scheme within three years.

The scheme aims to attract non-Emirati officers with “proven” backgrounds in community policing.

Recruitment will be phased in, with the first batch of officers from English-speaking countries, dealing with issues within English-speaking communities. The scheme will then move on to officers who speak other languages, such as Urdu.

It has not yet been decided how many officers will be taken on. Abu Dhabi currently has 500 community police officers.

The recruits will not be given full police powers. Instead, they will work as “community support officers”, patrolling with regular officers and dealing mostly with antisocial behaviour – such as vandalism – dangerous driving and crime prevention.

The plan was unveiled on the sidelines of the first Middle East Community Policing Conference.

Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the former chief constable of Northern Ireland who is now a security adviser to the Ministry of Interior, said: “There is a category of officers who are not police officers.

“They don’t have the full range of police powers but they are in uniform to deal with local issues. It is that kind of officer.

“They will not have the power to arrest. They will work with their Abu Dhabi Police counterparts.”

Community policing in Abu Dhabi was initiated by Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, the Minister of Interior, in 2003. Operations began in 2005.

“Right now, we are not covering all areas but we are expanding,” said Lt Col Mubarak bin Mehairoum, the acting director of the Abu Dhabi Community Police Department.

“We’re hoping that, in two or three years, we will cover all Abu Dhabi areas and all communities. We are concerned about all communities here.

“We have to work according to the needs of these communities. Our role is to find out how we can work together, to enhance the trust between us – as police – and them.

“The question is, is it correct to hire a local person who does not speak English and get him to work with an English community? Are they feeling safe? What are their needs? We want to ensure they feel safe.

“The place might be safe but it’s equally important they feel safe.”

The new community officers will have rigorous training on working with all sectors of society and in a multicultural environment.

Lt Col Mehairoum said that while criteria had not yet been set, applicants “should know how to communicate with the community we would like to target”.

Non-Emirati residents welcomed the move. Some felt that dealing with people from their own countries would “definitely” help to bridge cultural gaps and defeat language barriers. Others, however, said they did not feel that there was a need for non-Emirati officers, as most issues could be handled by Emirati officers.

Meha Sankar, 23, from India, a volunteer at Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi, said having an officer from the Indian community would be less “intimidating”.

She added, however, that most police officers spoke English and she could easily communicate with them.

“Apart from that, I don’t see what difference it would make to have non-Emirati community officers. Communication is not a problem and I don’t have complaints,” she said.

Jennifer Fischer, 24, from France, who works for an online shopping company, described the move as a “great idea” which would contribute to residents’ integration into UAE society.

“We’re all part of this country and it’s good that they are involving more nationalities in the police force and in the working of the community,” she said.

“It would not be prejudiced and everyone will be involved.”

Madusha Baddegama, a 23-year-old student from Sri Lanka, said: “I think it would eliminate any prejudice that may exist between the local community and police officers if there were more nationalities involved.”

Official figures suggest that more people are turning to community police officers for help.

Last year, community officers dealt with 2,894 traffic incidents, compared with 1,668 in 2007; 2,033 social disputes, compared with 550 in 2007; and 6,958 minor crimes and disorders, compared with 3,626 the year before.

Community officers also carried out 5,449 public service tasks – including awareness campaigns, and visits to schools and malls – compared with 2,532 in 2007.

In November last year, a United Nations delegation described Abu Dhabi’s community police force as a role model for other countries.

Last April, it was announced that the force had agreed to train Iraqi community police officers under the supervision of the UN. It also agreed to train community officers in Qatar.

* The National, with additional reporting by Deepthi Unnikrishnan

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