Videoconferencing service for inmates, their families

Sohaila Ahmed, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Police announced that they recently launched a remote visual communication service between inmates at the General Department of Punitive and Correctional Institutions in Dubai and their families inside and outside the country.

Brigadier Ali Al Shamali, Director of the General Department of Punitive and Correctional Institutions at Dubai Police, said the new service is a humanitarian initiative that enables Dubai inmates to communicate with their families, inside and outside the country, in a way that achieves the principle of physical distancing.

The service also fulfils the commitment to the precautionary and preventive measures called upon by the Dubai Government in light of the current global COVID-19 crisis, he said in a statement issued by Dubai Police on Monday.

Brig. Al Shamali added that Dubai Police have been keen to provide complete logistical support to the inmates so that they can communicate with their loved ones through electronic devices, in cooperation with the General Department of Artificial Intelligence at Dubai Police. He explained that families should first request an online visit through Dubai Police app available on smartphones; they will then receive a text message with a link of the specific date and time for the video call. They can later go to Dubai Police official website and connect to the inmates who would be offered the necessary electronic devices to join the call.

Recently, the Abu Dhabi Police warned against suspicious links sent via social media and emails, urging the public to look out for such text scams. Abu Dhabi Police advised users not to click on any suspicious links, which could be fraudulent and in most cases have nothing to do with the institution fraudsters claim to be affiliated with.

Text scams may include links for travel websites for cancelling prior bookings on coronavirus outbreak, or links to download some social apps, which could be maliciously designed to hack personal data, including user names, passwords and credit card numbers.

Users are strongly advised to verify the authenticity of these websites and links and never to reveal their confidential data or transfer money under threat. They are also requested to immediately report any such malicious attempts to Abu Dhabi Police by calling 8002626, or email [email protected]. to report any cybercrime.

In line with the directive of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, ADJD, has suspended enforcement procedures of arrest orders and imprisonment of individuals, except in maintenance and labour enforcement cases. Abu Dhabi Police Directorates, External Areas, Al Ain and Al Dhafra, have been instructed not to arrest anyone until May 24, 2020, while maintaining circulars on the system to prevent those wanted from travelling outside the UAE.

Counsellor Yousef Saeed Al Ebri, Under-Secretary of the ADJD, explained that these procedures, which are followed directly by Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chairman of the ADJD, will achieve the aim of the high directive to support members of the society and to alleviate the burden and circumstances that would result from the current situation.

This would also preserve the rights of creditors, by preventing those who are wanted from leaving the country until their situation has been settled by the law.

Al Ebri pointed to the role of the Enforcement Department of the ADJD, which took all the procedural steps not to issue any decisions of arrest or imprisonment in cases of civil and commercial execution and rents until the expiry of the two-month deadline, and to suspend the enforcement of any eviction in rental cases, in addition to stopping the registration of any enforcement case issued in this regard.