Police to boost street presence with officers visible every five minutes

The police have announced changes to its patrol policy, which will see an increased street presence in the Maldivian capital so that people come across an officer every five minutes.

The planned changes, which seek to address an increase in dangerous accidents in the congested Maldivian capital, were announced by Commissioner of Police Ali Shujau in a press statement on Sunday.

Shujau said the law enforcement agency seeks to boost street presence, including by deploying senior officers, across the country. He said that senior police officers were already patrolling outside schools.

Shujau said that police are being stationed in specific areas of Male’ during high traffic hours.

“These efforts are not periodic. We will treat this as the model for policing in the future,” he said.

Shujau said that the agency is making changes specifically to address an increase in dangerous road accidents in the capital.

“In response to the increase in accidents in the Male’ area, the police have now made it a policy to ensure that when people come out to the street and begin their journey, they come across an officer every five minutes,” he said.

He said that the plan is to have police officers stationed in 21 areas of Male’ during high traffic times.

Shujau said that the police are working on implementing this policy.  

According to Shujau, there are some 360 recruits currently undergoing training.

“Once they finish training, they will be deployed to the frontlines in order to achieve this goal,” he said.

He added that the police are also working on deploying officers from administrative and support wings in order to boost street patrols.

Shujau said that a modern communications center has been established in the capital to monitor and coordinate these efforts.

The communications center:

• The communications center will be managed by senior police officers 24/7
• It will centrally control and monitor the entire Male’ via CCTV camera network
• It will track the exact locations of on-duty officers
• It will be equipped with the technology to instantly collect and analyze information that officers need

The measures follow string of dangerous accidents in Male’ City and Hulhumale’ in recent weeks, some of which have resulted in fatalities.

The spike in accidents has prompted the police to deploy a greater number of traffic police to patrol the streets of the capital. The police have also begun using motorcycles to patrol the Sinamale’ Bridge this week, to speed up response to accidents.

The police have received reports of nearly 2,000 road accidents so far this year, with over 200 accidents reported each month.