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For illustrative purposes only. Image Credit: Supplied

Dubai: The Rashidiya police station settled cheque cases involving Dh254 million last year, while also referring cheque cases involving Dh331 million to the public prosecution, the director of the police station said.

In a visit by Gulf News to Al Rashidiya police station, officials said that most of the cases registered at the police station related to cheque irregularities, with 10,327 cheque complaints received out of a total 13,147 complaints last year.

Brigadier Saeed Bin Sulaiman, director of Al Rashidiya police station, told Gulf News that despite the number of complaints going up by 17.9 per cent compare to 2015, security programmes implemented in the station solved 99 per cent of the complaints last year.

“We are covering a huge area in Al Rashidiya, including Dragon Mart, Mirdif and Fruit Market, as well as many residential areas. We have three security programmes to tackle the problem. We have a programme called ‘Darkness bats’ to crack down on people who are staying illegally, especially in International city. We arrested 792 people last year who were staying illegally in the country,” Brigadier Bin Sulaiman said.

He said that Al Rashidiya witnessed 7 murders last year and police solved all of the cases.

Officials at the station said that Emirates Road continues to be a challenge in terms of traffic accidents after five people were killed this year on the road.

Colonel Omar Ashor, director of the traffic section at the station, said that 39 people died in 438 traffic accidents in Al Rashidiya last year, including 18 people on Emirates Road alone.

“Emirates Road is a worrying road which witnesses many deadly accidents every year. Ten people died in traffic accidents this year so far and five of them died on Emirates Road. We are making a study and may recommend to reduce the speed limits on the road to prevent deadly accidents,” Colonel Ashor said.

The station recorded 31,329 minor traffic accidents last year.

CCTV cameras to tackle traffic offences

Colonel Ashor said the police station is deploying more police patrols on major roads in the area and 12 CCTV cameras had been installed at different spots in their jurisdiction to monitor traffic problems and to tackle drivers trying to pull off stunts.

“Our officers are sitting behind the screens watching the area by the cameras and fine reckless drivers. It’s a good way to make the people follow traffic instructions; especially some of them go wild when they don’t see a policeman in the area. Those cameras serve us better than if we send 12 police patrols to the area and the cameras are operated by one officer,” Colonel Ashor added.

Smart traffic tickets system

Since the beginning of this year, 29 officers of Al Rashidiya police station have been using a smart ticket system to issue traffic fines via their smart phones. The officers take pictures of the violation and issue a ticket, whereby the errant driver will receive a text message about his violation after 5 minutes.

During January and February this year, the officers issued 2,340 fines with the director of the station issuing 399 of those fines on his own.