Manually processing some police transactions in Dubai will cost residents Dh100 more than completing them online as of February 1, an official said on Wednesday.
The price difference is part of the force's efforts to encourage members of the community to use its smart services, the first of which were introduced six months ago.
"Those who fail to process their transactions online will have to pay Dh100 more than the charges paid when customers use smart channels," said Maj Gen Abdu Qudus Al Obeidli, assistant commander-in-chief for quality and excellence.
"In the first phase of implementing the services, community members who choose to visit police stations to get their transactions processed will be trained to apply online to have their transactions processed through smart channels," he said.
Eighteen services can now be processed online or through the police smartphone application.
They include applying for a permit to work night shifts, a criminal status certificate and a certificate to prove a motorist has no traffic fines, among others.
Five online services were introduced six months ago, and on Thursday, 13 more were rolled out. Residents and citizens can now process almost 40 per cent of all police services online and most customers have already made the switch, Maj Gen Al Obeidli said.
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“Eighty-four per cent of customers who used to visit Dubai police stations shifted to online services since August."
He said workers and the elderly made up most of the remaining 16 per cent.
“Police will launch initiatives targeting labourers to train them on how to use smart channels to process their transactions,” said Maj Gen Al Obeidli.
The long-term aim is to move all services online in a bid to save people’s time and effort and simplify transactions.
“We will not accept the use of traditional services except for certain cases,” he said.
“Currently, people are able to conduct their transactions in the comfort of their homes and offices, averting them from driving their vehicles which will help reduce pollution".
Maj Gen Al Obeidli said concerns over potential sensitive data hacking were unfounded.
"There have been attempts to hack the police's website. They failed due to high protection systems," he said.
