DUBAI (AlArabiya.net)
Saudi security officials have finalized plans for a system of community policing, with a draft law being prepared to enforce the new security system throughout the kingdom.
The new system, according to Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, aims at joining efforts of the security forces and other institutions of society, especially the family, in a bid to make security a joint responsibility.
The community police system is applied in many Arab countries. It basically aims at establishing co-operation between security personnel on one hand and intellectuals and educators on the other. The system particularly fights delinquent behavior like drugs, the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan reported.
The new law stipulates establishing a community police station in every residential area or compound to maintain security with the help of residents.
The system is supposed to resolve personal disputes, encourage volunteer work, and regulate social conduct.
Observers believe that this is basically the job of the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, also known as Saudi Religious Police. They do not rule out the new system replacing the old one in the future.
Officers of the religious police in Saudi Arabia are given a free hand to arrest people in public places if their behavior is regarded as suspicious or falls outside their interpretation of Islamic codes.
Major General Said bin Abdullah Al-Qahtani and his assistant for planning and development General Saad Al-Kilewi were expected to hold a press conference to announce the new system and the mechanisms of its application on the police and citizen level.
Kilewi, speaking on behalf of the Saudi Civil Defense, admitted to an existing tension between both, but added that the terrorist attacks that hit the country in 2003 bridged the gap to a great extent.
(Translated from Arabic by Sonia Farid) |
