Dubai: Dubai Police revealed that the number of serious crimes committed in the emirate fell by 15 per cent last year when compared to 2016.
Major-General Abdullah Khalifa Al Merri, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, hailed the force which solved 86 per cent of criminal cases.
“Dubai Police aim to increase the safety and security feelings among the public [through] more efforts to achieve the strategic target of making Dubai a happy and safe city,” he said.
Maj Gen Al Merri said a data analysis centre to look into criminal cases was established in April last year.
“The centre has 19 smart programmes to help officers analysis crimes and identify crime zones to study the reasons for criminal activities. It [has] helped to reduce crime rates,” Maj Gen Al Merri said.
Maj Gen Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant Commander-in-Chief for the Criminal Investigation Affairs of Dubai Police, said the centre played a major role in bringing down the rate of crime.
“We sent officers to foreign countries to study best practices in fighting crimes and criminal investigation,” Maj Gen Al Mansouri said.
He said that last year’s statistics were the best over the last ten years — something he attributed to officers utilisation of data analysis.
“One of the examples is the problem of fights using swords or knives. The police tackled the problem and arrested all the suspects involved in such crimes,” he said.
Anti-narcotics department
Maj Gen Al Merri, said there was 8.4 per cent increase in drug operations by the Anti-Narcotic Department and a total of 1,742 cases were recorded last year, compared to 1,607 cases in 2016. A total of 2,553 drug suspects were arrested in 2017, compared to 2,121 in 2016.
“We foiled many drug attempts and seized 343 kilograms of drugs and illegal substances last year, compare to 320kg seized in 2016,” he added.
The Forensic Department and Criminology handled 35,408 cases in 2017, including 3,099 cases from other emirates.
Traffic department
Meanwhile, Maj Gen Al Merri said road deaths fell by 25.7 per cent as police organised seven awareness campaigns on the dangers of speeding, jaywalking, not leaving a safe distance between vehicles and sudden swerving.
The number of people killed in traffic accidents in Dubai fell from 198 in 2016 to 147 deaths last year.
