Community Police Director Lt Colonel Mariam Khalfan has affirmed the role of the community police in ensuring the students’ safety during school hours. She has said members of the police would be posted at school gates to ease the students’ movement and to help them cross the road.
Lt-Col. Khalfan said that such a step was welcomed by all school administrations, their staff and the students’ parents and helped maintain peace in the community. She said the police would protect the students from dangers they might encounter.
The community police functions to maintain rapport between the Ministry of Interior and the community and thus prevent crime and promote harmony among citizens and residents.
The Community Police Director also stressed on consolidating the sentiments of citizenship among the people which, she said, helps in spreading peace.
99 people trained in association with Traffic Directorate
Lt-Col. Khalfan said that in 2007 there was a proposal to deploy the community police instead of the traffic police near schools as the former are better trained on community issues. A group of 99 people was trained on traffic culture and how to organise the traffic flow near schools in addition to providing safety for the students.
The Community Police Directorate is always preparing annual courses and organises training lectures to develop its staff performance in dealing with the students and their parents.
Lt-Col. Khalfan said: “The Directorate is preparing brochures and offering awareness lectures for school students. The lectures are delivered by a experts in association with the Ministry of Education and the Traffic Awareness Culture section to enhance the security and social awareness.”
She said that in case there were problems or traffic violations, the security awareness section helped solve them. And if the problem aggravated, it is forwarded to the nearest police station, she said.