Residents give police a ‘vote of confidence’

Almost 3 in 10 UAE residents have contacted the police during the past year - with many simply turning to them for advice. Traffic incidents made up the bulk of the reports filed.

ABU DHABI // More than a quarter of residents have been in contact with police over the past year and the vast majority said the interaction with officers as positive.

The most common reason for contacting police was because of car crashes on the country’s roads while about a quarter of respondents to a crime poll said they phoned 999 or spoke to an officer to simply ask for guidance, advice or to pass on information.

Lara Al Barazi, associate research director of YouGov, the polling company that conducted the survey in association with The National, said the results showed a vote of confidence in the UAE policing system.

“People here - they call the police for information, for advice,” she said. “This is rare for anywhere in the world.”

According to the survey, almost 3 in 10 (28 per cent) have had contact with the police in the last 12 months.

More than half (55 per cent) contacted the police to report a traffic accident.

Almost a quarter (24 per cent) of those that contacted police wanted to give police information or were seeking advice from officers while almost a fifth (17 per cent) contacted police to ask for advice or information.

Other reasons included reporting a personal or household crime, reporting a crime where somebody else was a victim, reporting a missing person, reporting a medical emergency or to report lost or found property.

Slightly over two-thirds (65 per cent) rated their experience with the police as very good to excellent. Only 6 per cent of those asked gave a negative response to their interaction with police.

The research found that men had more contact with the police in the last year.

Of the 628 male respondents to the survey, 32 per cent had been in contact with the police in the last 12 months. Just 20 per cent of the 380 female survey respondents has been in contact with police.

More expatriates (29 per cent of those asked) had contact with police than Emiratis (24 per cent).

Arab expatriates (37 per cent) and Westerners (33 per cent) were the most common nationalities to have contact with the law.

The 30 to 34-year-old age group (32 per cent) followed by the 18 to 24-year-old age group (31 per cent) had the most contact with law enforcement officers in the last year, according to the survey.