Dubai: There has been a six per cent drop in criminal cases in the second quarter of this year compared to the first quarter this year, and a 16.6 per cent plunge in crime compared to the same period in 2009, police said.
Brigadier Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Director General of the General Department for Criminal Investigations (CID), said the figures of the second quarter of 2010 were a positive indication of the rigorous strategies, studies, and planning Dubai police had carried out.
Brigadier Al Mansouri said serious crimes had dropped by 16.6 per cent in the second quarter compared to the same period last year.
Serious crimes — armed robberies, murder, kidnapping, assault, suicide and sexual harassment — made up a total of 2.8 per cent of criminal cases, he said.
Brigadier Al Mansouri said the number of unresolved cases had dropped by 75 per cent in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2009.
Drug-related crimes had declined by 17.2 per cent in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2009.
There had also been a big drop in the number of robberies and thefts from homes, commercial establishments, vehicles, and pick-pocketing, Brigadier Al Mansouri said.
He attributed this to continuous public awareness campaigns. Minor robberies had dropped by around 57 per cent in the second quarter of this year compared to the same time last year. There had also been a decline of around 57 per cent in robberies from homes.
Thefts decline
Thefts from vehicles, and the number of stolen vehicles, declined in the second quarter to 59 per cent and 25.6 per cent respectively when compared to the same period of 2009.
Thefts from commercial stores and warehouses had declined by 59 per cent in the second quarter of this year when compared to the same time in 2009.
Intensified police patrols and inspections of warehouses to limit security loopholes had contributed to this success, Brigadier Al Mansouri said.
Big decline
Pick-pocketing had declined by 75 per cent in the second quarter when compared to the same period last year, said Brigadier Al Mansouri.
Colonel Mohammad Nasser, Deputy Director of the Criminal Investigations Department for police station affairs, said that crime prevention programmes developed by police stations to curb crimes in their area of specialty had been the major contributors.
The programmes have been developed with the help of the new Crime Prevention Department of Dubai Police, set up to track crime trends and create crime-prevention strategies.
Brigadier Al Mansouri said: "We have generalised the ‘‘Kish Harami' [prevention programme to curb thefts and robberies] programme, implemented [first] in the Bur Dubai police station, at all police stations following great success in fighting crimes that caused us headaches in the past".
The police had determined "hot" areas, or places where serious crimes occurred more often.
How socially conscious are you? Have you ever been a part of community crime prevention programmes?
