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The Dubai Police headquarters. The fee for the smart impound is Dh420. Picture for illustrative purposes only. Image Credit: Gulf News Archives

Dubai: A total of 5,163 cars have used Dubai Police’s smart impound system since January this year, an official announced on Friday.

Brigadier Saif Muhair Al Mazroui, director of the General Directorate of Traffic at Dubai Police, said the system has allowed motorists “to keep their impounded vehicles at home instead of having them taken to police-designated impound yards.”

The fee for the smart impound is Dh420. “Since it was launched in 2018, the smart impound system has helped motorists impound their cars outside their own villa or in their own parking lot,” Al Mazroui noted.

He explained: “After a motorist registers a request to use the smart impound, a team of technicians is sent to the vehicle’s location and a small device is fitted to the car with GPS (global positioning system) technology that will enable the Police to know whether the car has moved or not. The car will be visible on a map in the command room and the device will send a notification if it moves.”

“To ensure impounded cars are not driven, a small tracking device service will be installed inside the impounded car so that it alerts the police if the car has moved while serving the impoundment period,” he added.