Sharjah: Sharjah Police have completed the installation of 11,304 high-tech CCTV surveillance cameras in the emirate of Sharjah, officials said.
Major General Saif Al Ziri Al Shamsi, Commander-in-Chief of the Sharjah Police, said the project to install surveillance cameras around Sharjah is now 60 per cent complete in Sharjah City, 20 per cent in the Central Region, and 20 per cent in the Eastern Region. The project’s coverage in Sharjah City accounts for 40 per cent, the Central Region for 10 per cent, and the Eastern Region for 10 per cent. He pointed out that the total number of surveillance cameras is 11,304, including 500 analytical surveillance cameras, 750 cameras that detect vehicle licence plates, and 10,054 early alarm warning cameras.
According to WAM, Major General Al Shamsi has said that the UAE’s security system has significantly progressed over the past 50 years, noting that safety and security have been part of the key foundations of the country since the establishment of the UAE by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and the Founding Fathers. He also pointed out that this approach is being followed by the UAE’s leadership, led by President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, in addition to achieving economic growth, social development and other living requirements.
Major General Al Shamsi stressed that the Ministry of Interior (MOI), led by Lt. General Sheikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, has established a clear strategy in line with the national vision to make the UAE among the safest countries in the world.
Therefore, the UAE Cabinet has set indexes consistent with the national agenda and comprising five pillars, which are ‘feeling of safety’, ‘fast response’, ‘death rate on highways’, ‘alarming reports’, ‘dependency on security’ and ‘reliability of security and police services with businesses’.
Advanced global rankings
Major General Al Shamsi pointed out that to assess the level of advancement of the security system, the country’s performance in these indexes must be monitored. He asserted that the fact that Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai were awarded advanced global rankings by a foreign institution is in line with the country’s vision to lead in the areas of safety and security, which is the outcome of the initiatives and projects launched by ministry and police leaders.
* He worked as director of Eastern Region Police before assuming his new position. With a career spanning 29 years, he has been involved in a number of high-profile incidents, including cyclone Gonu, Al Baker Tower fire and Al Nasser Tower fire.
* After graduating from Police College in Abu Dhabi in 1989, Major General Al Shamsi was trained in criminology and criminal investigation. During his career, he held several positions in the traffic and licensing department, became the head of Kalba police station in 2005 and the following year he was appointed at the Eastern Region Police Department. From March 2006 to 2015, he was the director of Eastern Region Police Directorate.
* Born in 1967 in a well-known Emirati family in Sharjah, Major General Al Shamsi is married and has eight children — four sons and four daughters.
Major General Al Shamsi outlined the plans for Sharjah Police for the next 50 years. The police have adopted a proactive approach to ensure its readiness for all future challenges and opportunities. With this aim in mind, it has launched a project, titled “Foreseeing the Future of Security in Sharjah until 2030,” which resulted in several future projects.
Sharjah Police has updated the project and the framework, to keep pace with the best global practices, he added, noting that the key areas for predicting the future include unconventional future crimes, the future of cybersecurity, the future of government services, the future of movement, the future of correctional facilities and inmate rehabilitation.
He further added that all sectors are being considered, including the penal, traffic, social and technological sectors, as well as leadership and competitiveness, noting that the ultimate goal is to achieve safety and security and boost the quality of life in the UAE, in general, and Sharjah, in particular.
Sharjah among world's safest cities
On the standards that enabled Sharjah to be ranked sixth globally in terms of the safest cities in the world with a rate of 83.5 per cent, Major General Al Shamsi explained that Sharjah Police is keen to ensure the feeling of safety and security and enhance the mutual trust between the police and members of the community, by implementing strategic plans that are in line with the ministry’s strategy aimed at improving safety and security in the UAE.
He highlighted the fact that relevant plans and initiatives will help increase security in the emirate, most notably through intensifying the number of patrols and overall security presence, which reduced the crime rate, as well as through employing modern technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), to boost safety and security using drones. He also explained the details of the “E-Patrols Programme,” which aims to monitor negative behaviours on social media and cybercrimes, as well as raise the public’s awareness about them.
Regarding the Sharjah Police’s work during the current health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Major General Al Shamsi stated that the local crisis and disaster management team aims to maintain the emirate’s safety and security and to address all related crises and risks while prioritising the safety of employees, customers and members of the community. Therefore, Sharjah Police has implemented appropriate precautionary measures to curb the spread of the virus in all departments that involve direct contact with people. Moreover, the team’s executive committee has adopted a special protocol that covers all local public and private authorities, which determines all the preventive procedures to be followed.
“The Sharjah Police organised several security awareness programmes targeting all segments of the community, which played a key role in its plan and strategy aimed at addressing all natural and social phenomena, by raising the public’s awareness,” he affirmed.
On the Sharjah Police’s support for its innovative recruits, Major General Al Shamsi further stressed that it is keen to support its cadres by enrolling them in innovative courses and lab sessions and endorsing their ideas and projects to be implemented, adding that many internal and external courses have been held, and noting that 2,514 recruits passed the accredited e-courses last year, which had a considerable influence on the rise in achievement levels across all departments.
