How 89,772 surveillance cameras make Sharjah residents feel safer

Sharjah: A whopping 99.7 per cent of Sharjah residents say they feel safer as a result of Sharjah Police installing 89,772 high-tech surveillance cameras in the emirate.

Sharjah Police also pointed out that 99.3 per cent of residents have confidence in its ability to maintain security, while 99.1 per cent said they trust police stations.

At a briefing on Monday, police also revealed that the rate of serious crime in Sharjah dropped to 40 incidents per 100,000 people last year, Maj-Gen Saif Al Ziri Al Shamsi, Sharjah Police Chief, told Gulf News.

The briefing themed ‘Together towards a secure and sustainability future’ was attended by Maj-Gen Al Shamsi and senior police officials.

Col Mohammad Gazal, deputy director of electronic services department at Sharjah Police, said the surveillance camera project is 90 per cent complete. The 89,772 cameras installed until the end of 2023 include live view and ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) devices.

The General Department of Criminal Investigation achieved 100 per cent success in arresting culprits involved in serious crimes.

Traffic accidents decline

There has also been a significant decrease in traffic accidents and deaths as a result of a 9 per cent increase in radars deployed in accident-prone areas.

The permanent 35 per cent discount on traffic fines has also encouraged people to settle fines and renew vehicle licences, with 242,000 renewed after fines were settled.

Plans to ease traffic on congested roads include installing 48 AI-operated traffic signals that turn red or green based on the number of cars.

Faster response time

In 2023, Sharjah Police took 3.39 minutes to respond to emergencies compared to 4.58 minutes in 2022. The control room handled 2,035,859 999 calls and 421,370 calls on the 901 non-emergency number.

Drug control

Drug seizures rose 24.3 per cent in 2023 with 1.12 million grams of drugs and 4.55 million psychedelic tablets worth Dh115.37 million seized.

Sharjah Police also blocked 1,003 websites used to promote drugs and foiled over 600,029 attempts to peddle drugs.

2024-27 strategy launched

The Sharjah Police chief also launched the Sharjah Police General Headquarters Strategy 2024-27 with six strategic objectives — achieving security and safety for the community, enhancing traffic safety, raising readiness for crisis and disaster management, enhancing community partnership and improving the customer experience, providing efficient and effective corporate services and digital infrastructure with the highest standards of governance and enhancing innovation practices and readiness for the future.

He also launched the Sanad and Safeen family as the first virtual lecturer specialised in the fields of security awareness.

Customer happiness

Sharjah Police reported that 94 per cent of customers were happy with services provided in 2023, with 1.10 million transactions completed digitally with a time of one minute six seconds per transaction, The waiting time was less than a minute, which resulted in achieving a satisfaction rate of 96 per cent in the use of digital channels.

Awards and intellectual works

During 2023, Sharjah Police registered 163 intellectual works, industrial models and innovation patents, including the Virtual Security Awareness Platform, Tropicamide Drops and Gifted and Innovative Management System.

In 2023, Sharjah Police received eight awards at the local and international levels.

2023 in numbers

-89,772 surveillance cameras installed across Sharjah

-9 per cent increase in new radars

-24.3 per cent increase in drug seizures 

-Dh115.37 million worth of drugs (1.12 million grams) and psychedelic tablets (4.55 million) seized

-1,003 websites used to promote drugs blocked

-600,029 drug promotion attempts foiled inside the emirate

-Emergency response time dropped to 3.39 minutes in 2023