Dubai: The Dubai police chief has criticised government employees who lack knowledge or fail to shoulder their responsibilities and serve the public in the best possible way.
Announcing the beginning of a two-week internal awareness campaign for Dubai police employees under the title ‘You are our distinction', Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim stressed that government employees are first and foremost public servants.
"The slogan I chose for this campaign is ‘I am a public service employee', to highlight that every government employee is a public service employee," he said.
An honour
Addressing a number of officers and employees Sunday, he said being a public servant means being loyal to your job. It is also about being honest, which is the highest value that all employees must have.
"We should never discriminate based on ethnicity, sex, nationality or any other factor, and must serve all people equally," he said.
"All the problems in the Arab world today are a result of the dishonesty and abuse of power by public service employees and their disregard of the people who should benefit from their services," he said.
"Be humble, remind yourself that you are in public service and should make all people feel that you are there to serve and that it is an honour," he said, adding that some people had a problem with the words ‘serve' and ‘service', but in the UAE culture, the servant of the people is the highest in rank.
"Employees should be fair and even if 95 per cent of the people are satisfied with the service provided, this leaves 5 per cent dissatisfied, which should not be underestimated," he said.
The police chief highlighted other important traits that employees must have, especially patience and understanding, that customers could lose their temper but still have to be treated with respect.
"You should not ignore people, like speaking on the phone while they are waiting, as it reflects a bad image of your department," he said.
