New police unit to deal with cyber crime
Source: Gulf News
Date: June 14, 2003
Dubai Police will soon set up an e-crime unit to deal with cyber crime as part of its efforts to make use of the latest technological developments, said Major-General Sharafuddin Mohammed Hussain, Assistant Chief of Dubai Police for Criminal Investigation Affairs.
Quoted by Arabic daily Al Khaleej Maj.Gen Sharafuddin said cybercrimes are being dealt by a special division right now, but the present status and conditions requires to convert this division to a specialised unit, to be run by a highly qualified and trained officers and individuals.
Maj. Gen. Sharafuddin noted that the crime rate in the UAE is low compared to that of other countries.
According to statistics, from 1993 to 2002 the crime rate rose due to the increase in the population. A total of 9,411 crimes were recorded in 1993. This number increased to 20,327 in 2002, but 65 per cent of those crimes involved dud cheques.
The percentage of miscellaneous crimes does not exceed 10 per cent, said Maj. Gen. Sharafuddin. He attributed this to the efforts of the Criminal Investigation Department.
Talking about the stability in Dubai, Sharafuddin said: "This is considered a key pillar for the society and that's why we send several officers to Egypt, Jordan and other countries to acquire qualified training."
Focusing on drugs, Maj.Gen Sharafuddin said^; "The Dubai police is putting in great efforts in combating the problem of drugs in the society."
According to him one of the reasons for the spread of drugs in the UAE is its cosmopolitan character.
"Dubai police has come up with various modern measures to curb the spread of drugs. There is a routine monitoring programme which was recently launched by the Dubai Police Anti-Narcotic Department in which drug addicts are subjected to routine tests by the family or the individual involved. This is to prevent addicts from falling back into the habit again.
"This monitoring continues for a year. We require the families to have the addicts routinely monitored by the Dubai police. This is because many former addicts refuse to take the routine tests, Maj.Gen Sharafuddin said.
"Psychologists and social workers are also involved in getting the addict back on track to lead a normal, clean life," said Maj. Gen Sharafuddin.
Asked whether the diverse cultures in the UAE are the main cause behind the increase in crimes he replied: "No, I do not think so because as of now we have about 140 nationalities living in the UAE. The diversification of these various cultures contributes to enriching the UAE 's culture and helps create social unity.
"However according to the statistics, a majority of crime is committed by people of Asian nationality."
Asked whether the large number of bachelors living in residential areas is connected to the crime rate, especially offences involving housemaids and servants, Sharafuddin said: "This is really a problem for the police because most of the contracting firms establish temporary housing for these single people in residential areas.
"There are several types of criminal and moral violations committed by those people.
"To solve this problem the Dubai police have spoken with all authorities concerned to find a way to prevent establishing houses for single men in residential areas and ban them from living in those areas," he said.
Providing an insight into the various steps taken to develop the performance of the Dubai police: "We have changed a lot of our concepts and switched our work from routine procedures to specialised work. This has contributed to combating crime at its roots," Maj. Gen Sharafuddin said.
Original article: http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=90122
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