Sharjah on road to 100% safety
sharjah — The Sharjah Police have announced elaborative plans to increase safety and security and reduce crime rate in the emirate. The move is in line with the efforts to achieve he national agenda and the UAE vision to become one of the world’s safest and most secure countries.
Addressing a media forum on Monday, Brigadier Saif Mohammd Al Ziri Al Shamsi, Commander-inChief of the Sharjah Police, highlighted the indicators of the crime level in the emirate in general and on the alarming crimes in particular. “The Sharjah Police are making great efforts to accomplish the Ministry of Interior’s strategy for 20172021, which is aimed at making the UAE one of the best in the world in safety and security,” he said.
The newly announced initiatives and plans will help increase the sense of safety among the residents in the emirate to 100 per cent by 2021, he said, adding that the police will increase security patrols in residential areas to achieve this.
Brig Al Shamsi explained that at present, the serious crime rate indicator shows 123.5 crimes per 100,000 population, but the plan is to reduce it to 75 serious crimes per 100,000 population by 2021.
Brigadier-General Mohammad Rashid Beyat, director-general of police operations, said as part of its initiatives to achieve this target, the police would focus on home burglaries in areas under Al Gharb Police Station for the next 100 days. The areas covered under this programme include Mysalon, Al Mussala, Al Majaz and Abu Shagara, which witnessed high rates of thefts. He said 278 thefts were reported from these areas, targeting residential apartments and houses.
The police plan to reduce this number by 10 per cent in the coming 100 days by intensifying patrols and spreading awareness among residents of the areas. Once the target is achieved, the initiative will be moved to other areas, he added.
Traffic safety
Speaking about the traffic safety indicator, which measures the death cases caused by traffic accidents, he said that the indicator showed 10.78 deaths per 100,000 population in 2016, and the target is to reduce it to three deaths by 2021. To accomplish this goal, the traffic police will make all efforts to implement traffic safety standard on five major roads — Mleiha Road, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Road, Emirates Road, Al Ittihad Road and Sharjah-Al Dhaid Road — which witnessed large number of deaths
The Sharjah Police are making great efforts to accomplish the Ministry of Interior’s strategy for 2017-2021.” Brig Saif Al Zarri Al Shamsi, Sharjah Police chief
caused by accidents. During next 100 days, the focus will be to reduce number of deaths on Mleiha road, said Brig-Gen Beyat, adding that this would be achieved by intensifying patrols, raising traffic awareness and increasing the number of speed radars.
Brigadier-General Ali Salem Al Khayyal, director-general of central operations, noted that the police are currently taking action against pedestrians crossing roads from undesignated areas to minimise run over accidents.
Emergency response
Brigadier-General Al Khayyal pointed out that the police have achieved the goal of responding to emergency in 10 minutes. “We are currently working on strategies to reduce the time to reach the site when responding to an emergency to four minutes by 2021. To reach this goal we are working on upgrading the operation room and introducing motorbikes and electric bikes. Traffic congestion is the main challenge to accomplish this goal,” he said.
Brig-Gen Abdullah Mubarak bin Amer, deputy commander-in-chief of the Sharjah Police, said that the project “Sharjah is a safe city” is proceeding at as planned. The police have already installed 182 cameras in major areas of the emirate this year and by next month, the number will reach 250. As per the project, 500 advanced cameras will be placed in the vital and crowded places in Sharjah, he said.
afkarali@khaleejtimes.com