Parents urged to supervise kids’ gaming

DUBAI: Dubai Police have warned parents against neglecting to keep a close watch of their children as they play online games or use apps and programmes on smart devices and Playstation devices, which have games bearing a lot of violence and criminality that are contrary to the UAE’S traditions and cultures.

Parents were also requested to keep their children completely away from such violent and dangerous electronic games as they have a negative bearing on their behaviour.

Lt. Colonel Rashid Al Falasi, Director of the Criminal Investigation Department, stressed that the Victim Support Section succeeded in restoring the behaviour of a 14-year-old girl back to normal after receiving a call from a hospital that she was adopting a hostile behaviour among her peers.

As soon as the call was received, experienced women from the Victim Support Section visited the girl, who was found to be violent against everyone around her. She even used a knife in the face of her father who was joking with her.

The women established that the girl possessed a number of videos in which she appeared while carrying knives and imitating personalities she had seen in electronic games.

She was found to be spending most of her time at home playing games, which also reflected on the way she wore clothes and the way she walked.

It was clear to the visiting women that the girl was frequently left alone at home with these electronic games without any control or guidance, which reflected on her unstable behaviour and extreme hostility.

Since the case was the result of the girl’s parents’ negligence, Al Falasi said the girl’s mother was called and given some tips on how to deal with her child and how to keep her occupied during leisure time.

Al Falasi said that by regularly following up the girl’s case, a positive change seemed to have taken place and she was in a better condition, adding that strict follow-up will be observed until her case is resolved.