Ajman: Police have recorded a slight increase in the annual crime rate in Ajman in 2017 compared to 2016 and are adopting a crime prevention strategy for this year, said senior police officers at a press conference on Thursday.

Major-General Shaikh Sultan Bin Abdullah Al Nuaimi, Commander-in-Chief of Ajman Police, said 7,487 criminal cases were registered in 2017 as compared to 7,432 in 2016, and around 60 per cent of these were related to cheques.

However, financial crimes declined from 5,833 registered cases in 2016 to 5,804 in 2017, Crimes against people also dropped to 706 cases in 2017 from 755 in 2016.

Serious crimes like murder, robbery and assault dropped by 16 per cent to 499 in 2017 from 599 in 2016.

There had also been an improvement in people’s perception, with 98 per cent reporting that they felt safe in Ajman last year.

The response time — personnel reaching the incident site after an emergency call — was reduced to 10 minutes in 2017 and police aim to bring it down to eight minutes this year.

Major-General Al Nuaimi said the police have drawn up a plan for early crime prevention, including an intense awareness campaign to spread the culture of respecting the law.

Also, patrolling has been intensified on roads and in crime-prone areas.

Security patrols ‘Aman’ have been deployed in residential neighbourhoods, commercial and industrial areas round the clock.

Major-General Al Nuaimi pointed out that around 700 advanced surveillance cameras have been activated to monitor roads and vital places as part of ‘Ajman Is A Safe City’ project.

The surveillance cameras helped police foil 35 crimes, most of them in or near banks. “Quick intervention teams reached the scenes and arrested the suspects.

“If police teams are far from the crime scene, then we inspect the cameras which help us to identify the suspects and arrest them.”

The number of fatalities in traffic accidents decreased to 18 deaths in 2017 compared to 19 in 2016.

Ajman Police are focusing on reducing traffic accidents, fatalities and injuries and not on fining motorists, Major-General Al Nuaimi said.

He said Ajman Municipality has played a great role in reducing run-over accidents as it installed fences on the main roads.

Ajman Police also expanded the role of Al Mina police station in 2017 by launching its first marine police patrol unit. The unit has more personnel and a bigger boat equipped with high-tech devices in addition to a jet ski.

Traffic accidents

Serious accidents declined by 27 per cent and fatalities in accidents decreased by five per cent in 2017 from the previous year. The emirate also saw a 10 per cent decline in run-over accidents in 2017 from 2016.

The overall decline in accidents is a result of the regular campaigns conducted by the Ministry of Interior to ensure road safety, thereby reducing fatalities in accidents as well,

Major-General Al Nuaimi said.

“We aspire to accomplish the government’s Vision 2021 of reducing the rate of fatalities in road accidents to three for every 100,000 of the population.”

Road accident fatalities came down from 19 in 2016 to 18 in 2017, which meant the rate of fatalities was 4.5 for every 100,000 people. In 2016, the rate was 5.1 for every 100,000 people.

The injuries resulting from road accidents decreased by 35 per cent to 262 people in 2017 from 407 in 2016.

A total of 191 serious accidents were recorded in 2017 as compared to 262 in 2016, a decline of 27 per cent.

Gold traffic points

Ajman Police has adopted a new method to reduce traffic accidents by awarding gold points to the motorists who maintain a clean traffic file. The department has chosen 10 motorists for these points and they will be honoured during the Ajman Traffic Week.

Ajman Police app

As much as 94 per cent of Ajman Police services have been converted into smart services. The Ajman Police app now offers a wide range of smart services, including payment of traffic fines, raising objection to a traffic fine, opening a traffic file and reporting traffic violations by public. On average, 200-250 violations are being reported by members of the public via the police app every month.