Sharjah: Sharjah witnessed a significant decline of 50 per cent in crime rate during 2016 compared to last year, officials said on Monday.

The police statistics showed that a total of 1,154 crimes have taken so far this year, compared to 2,039 in 2015.

Thefts from cars dropped from 241 in 2015 to 223 in 2016 while house robberies decreased from 433 in 2015 to 215 and thefts from warehouses and establishments decreased from 578 in 2015 to 287.

Serious crimes, including murder, witnessed 50 per cent decline this year as compared to 2015 and assault crimes dropped 10 per cent.

Colonel Mohammad Rashid Bayat, director of Sharjah Police operations, said the police have drawn up a plan for early crime prevention, including an intense awareness campaign to spread the culture of respecting the law. Also, patrolling has been intensified on roads and in crime-prone areas.

The police have deployed 22 security, 12 police and 10 CID patrols in unmarked vehicles to ensure safety and security of residents.

Also, a security culture programme for schools has been adopted to tackle bad behaviour such as absenteeism, smoking, bullying, and violence. The emirate has also increased surveillance cameras.

Col Bayat pointed out that the drop in the crime rate was also brought by activating constructive initiatives that aim to settle disputes such as the ‘Reconciliation is the best way’ initiative, boosting cooperation between the community members and the police.

Col Bayat said the General Department of Criminal Investigation has achieved 100 per cent success on arresting the culprits involved in serious crimes, pointing out a new mechanism adopted by the police of tracking the movements of suspects who were previously involved in crimes helped reduce crimes like physical assaults and knife attacks.

Those who committed serious crimes such as murder, robbery and assault were already behind bars. Perpetrators who had managed to flee the country were arrested later, he said.

He revealed that in most incidents, the Sharjah police arrested the culprits before they could flee the country which is a significant achievement for the emirate’s security teams.

He said all complaints registered this year have been solved.

 

BOX

Criminal cases in 2016

Total crimes: 1,154

Thefts from cars: 223

House robberies: 215

Thefts from warehouses and establishments: 287