Following the directions of Gen. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence, Dubai Police are striving to promote quality concepts and applications in the Arab countries, Dubai's Police Chief said yesterday.

Maj. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim was speaking at the closure of the three-day Arab Police Total Quality session, "Dubai Police Total Quality Initiative", organised by the Arab League's Arab Organisation for Administrative Development.

He said Dubai Police were helping to spread the concept of quality in Arab countries by holding such sessions through which ideas are exchanged and new, successful quality applications introduced.

A similar session was held last year during which Maj. Gen. Dhahi announced an initiative for setting up excellence awards for the best performance in Arab administrations. "The initiative is still under study waiting to see Arab administrations that are capable of competing for such awards," he said.

"Quality cannot be achieved in a day and a night, there should be hard and sincere effort. However, there are no upper limits for quality as the world and Information Technology are changing rapidly. Administrations should keep upgrading and developing performances accordingly," said Maj. Gen. Dhahi.

Dubai Police, in coordination with the Arab League's Arab Organisation for Administrative Development, is attempting to help them as well as to exchange experience, he said. Fifteen officers from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Sudan, and the Ministry of Interior in the UAE, who attended, had a positive impact on the session as reflected during the discussions and tour visits, he said.

An advanced session on total quality will be held in October for officers who took part in last year's session, he said. The session recommended initiating a GCC network to ease the exchange of information on criminal cases and to enable better, quicker security measures. It also recommended unifying forms of criminal cases.

The session recommended the inclusion of 'Total Quality' as a subject in the curriculum at police colleges and institutes. It recommended inviting Arab officers to Dubai Police to help introduce them to its initiative in quality applications.