Reason/Rationale: Determination of differences and implemented benchmarks between UAE and UK law enforcement system.
Abstract 3
1) Introduction 4
2) Background 4
3) Key Points 5
4) Issues and Problems 6
5) Discussion 6
6) UAE Law Enforcement 7
11) Conclusion for UAE 10
12) UK Law Enforcement 11
17) Conclusion for UK Law Enforcement 14
18) Way forward 15
19) Conclusion 15
References 16
Appendices 18
Abstract
Law enforcement systems were created to put forward the initiatives of the criminal justice system particularly in ensuring that the full force of the law is in full swing. However, given the size of the organization and the necessary management approach needed to optimize the organization’s intended function, benchmarking becomes a useful tool to assess efficiency and success of the organization. Benchmarking is becoming an acceptable measure of standard in most organizations including the law enforcement. This is also the subject of interest of this case study in which the UAE and UK law enforcement benchmarks will be evaluated. The case study approach to evaluating UK and UAE law enforcement benchmark relies on the assumption that the comparable agencies such as the law enforcement unit if the two countries are adequately using its resources for higher operational proficiencies. For this case study, the UAE and UK law enforcement systems will be evaluated focusing on the quality of data collection, utilization and enforcement approach. After establishing the principles behind each of the organization, it will be necessary to determine how intelligence gathering capabilities are used in the law implementation strategies and the factors that influence decision making on the part of the law enforcers. In addition, related issues and problems arising from the organization’s operating standards will be addressed to establish the inadequacies that need resolving in order to maintain quality of operational standards.
Law Enforcement System UAE vs. UK
- Introduction
- Local law enforcement systems are generally initiated to address threats in the community. Each region encompasses a certain level of police practices required to maintain law and order. However, the criminal justice system and implemented standards vary in every nation. Setting criteria constitutes an issue of efficiency measures in which the level of adherence to the set of implemented guidelines determines the outcomes. For this study, the UAE (United Arab Emirates) law enforcement system will be compared to UK (United Kingdom) law enforcement system by evaluating their benchmarking criteria. The main goal in benchmarking law enforcement best practices is to determine approaches that work and those that need improvement. The purpose of benchmarking in law enforcement practices is discretion of the criminal justice system in order to ensure that law enforcers adhere to the acceptable level of professionalism in which negative outcomes might compromise law enforcement integrity.
- Background
- Law enforcement in UAE is different depending on the area of jurisdiction. For instance, Dubai law enforcement was founded in the principles of both its economic relevance and Islamic roots. On the other hand, the UK law enforcement system is rather more fragmented and its implementing standards vary in each territory. In addition to the perceived differences in implementation approaches these variations will be evaluated to determine inefficiencies.
- Key Points
- Law enforcement and maintaining order in UAE is different from the UK because of the variation of approach in the areas of information handling and intelligence gathering. While the UK law enforcement system rely on NCIS model, the UAE law enforcement unit rely IMS or Incident Management System and Queue Management Solution for delivering duties. Based on the characteristics and encompassing features of each of the information system that UAE and UK aw enforcement is using, it can speculated that the UK law enforcement have adopted a much stronger model of information management as compared to UAE, which is using a non-centralized approach in information management.
- UAE’s law enforcement was built from a legal system framework that was sufficiently developed to conform to the international and local enterprise. For example, the UAE law enforcement strictly adheres to the rules of the Sharia Law in relation to UAE’s strong Islamic roots more than the legislated laws. On the other hand, the UK conforms to the three principles of statue law, common law and the European communities with lesser emphasis on religious attributes.
- Issues and Problems
- The perceived issue in the prevailing law enforcement system between the two regions is the alleged inequality in term of law impositions. For example, since the UAE law was founded from the combination of old Egyptian and Sharia law. Therefore, some of the law enforcement initiative becomes selective in nature and the international community sees it as inappropriate. On the other hand, the UK law enforcement system is facing problems with accountability and public safety.
- Discussion
- The mixture of religious and civil laws encompasses a contradiction to the country’s economic initiatives, which results to issues to human rights violations and information management. The United Kingdom on the other hand, although have long been established still faces issues of accountability and public safety, which is rooted from its fragmented enforcement system that is not unitary in nature unlike the other police forces in other parts of the world.
- The UAE law enforcement was not totally built from legislative means, but rather of the Islamic traditions, the UAE law enforcement still upholds its law enforcement practices as appropriate to their overall standards. On the other side of the UAE law enforcement spectrum, strict implementation is necessary to be able to address problems that have significant economic and social implications.
- UAE Law Enforcement
- The strength of the UAE law enforcement system was derived from solutions that integrate information management. QMS solutions provide Dubai law enforcement with effective engagement opportunities to treat the members of the community and the visiting population with courtesy, respect and greater individual attention. On a wider scale, QMS may not be appropriate to be used by law enforcement units of the other UAE jurisdictions. For this reason, Incident Management System was created to assist the greater number of UAE law enforcement in delivering police response and promote better coordination between UAE police jurisdictions. On the other hand, information management approach such as IMS is also considered as a discipline that does not follow sound and behaved rules.
- Dubai follows the IMS rules, which encompasses work practices modeled from the Western emergency systems that includes providing immediate treatment to accident victims on site regardless of gender. However, the Sharia law stipulates rules pertaining to male direct contact with Muslim females. This provision in the law enforcement practices on emergency situation contradicts with the prevailing religious laws on the other part UAE such as Riyadh where Sharia is strictly observed (see Appendix 2).
- Strength
- The UAE law enforcement continuously evolving into a more diversified system that considers the adoption of widely accepted practices. Lastly, the UAE law enforcement has the machinery to integrate technologically advanced systems in its law enforcement units for higher service efficiency.
- Weaknesses
- The UAE law enforcement system exhibits constant contradiction of its implemented innovations and religious traditions. For instance, the Dubai law enforcement unit is strict on some level, but also tolerant. On the other hand, the Riyadh law enforcement is much more traditional and highly compliant to the Islamic Sharia law.
- Opportunities
- The UAE law enforcement has the financial capability to create a system-wide approach that can be implemented on its entire jurisdiction. Information management approach such as IMS and QMS can be customized to meet the criteria set by each jurisdiction in relation to religious and economic practices.
- Threats
- Insurgencies from hardline Muslim groups may threaten to disrupt the economic developments in the country particularly in open jurisdictions such as Dubai.
- Conclusion for UAE
- In terms of standards, UAE does not have the unified law enforcement system that can be implemented to all its areas of jurisdiction due to the areas where Islamic laws are much more prevalent. Efficiency in service delivery can be assumed to be at par due to the existing information management systems that helps the law enforcement sector in addressing the problems of peace and order in the country.
- UK Law Enforcement
- Unlike any other countries in the world, the United Kingdom, which is composed of Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland do not have a national police force that implements uniform law enforcement practices. There are a total of 44 independent geographical law enforcement systems in the UK and each of them follows specific law enforcement approach deemed appropriate in their respective jurisdictions. Due to the fragmentation in the UK law enforcement, there are several concerns about the integrity of each of the law enforces, thus affecting the public safety and security.
- Zero tolerance arrangements constitute disciplinary measures that challenge integrity and good practices in all of the UK’s law enforcement units. Introduced in 2008, the police conduct arrangement was created to categorize misconducts to gross misconduct according to the standards of professional behavior in which serious violation encompasses dismissal from service. However, the problem with integrity program is that the misconducts were not given specific provisions to segregate violations according to degree. The lack of communicated approach to connect with other law enforcement groups in the UK will lead to the dismissals of law enforcers without the proper due process to justify the cause of the law enforcer’s actions.
- The problem of determination of the bad eggs from the good ones in a very diverse law enforcement system in the UK leads to the creation of transparency and public reporting approach. The standards developed by ACPO hopes to contribute to the better implementation and understanding of integrity programs by all the law enforcement organizations in the country as well as public awareness, which will help the law enforcement in measuring benchmarking and tracking of improvement progress.
- Recent scandals involving law enforces had significant implications to public confidence. Corruption among police officers is common according to the survey report involving 1,300 people across UK. Furthermore, bribery and abuse of power was found to be widespread among all the UK law enforcement (ACPO, 2013).
- Strength
- The overall strength of the UK law enforcement was derived from its independence. This encompasses the freedom to make sound decision without worrying about contradicting with other law endorsement agencies because each law enforcement units have specific area of jurisdiction.
- Weakness
- Fragmentation is the primary weakness of the UK law enforcement. The lack of uniformity and standard rules of engagement among law enforcement adds to coordination problems given the situations in which one or more law enforcement units are needed to address a particular threat.
- Opportunities
- The opportunity for improvement rests upon the establishment of a nationwide code of conduct implementation as suggested by ACPO. There is also a possibility of joining up each of the law enforcement unit’s technological resources to ensure real-time coordination and communication.
- Threats
- The current law enforcement system in the UK was still based on old legislations that need revamping to adhere to the changing social environments in the country. Standardized rules and regulation defeats the purpose of segregating the law enforcement groups according to their function.
- Conclusion for UK Law Enforcement
- ACPO encourages the development of a robust model that will address the lack of nationwide standard law enforcement practices. The integrity program hopes to improve public confidence, which was recently plagued by controversies of corruption and misconduct among law enforcement staffs. Coordination is also an important factor that each of the different law enforcement units should consider in order to assure the public of better service delivery.
- Way forward
- The determined weaknesses of the UAE and UK law enforcement system can be addressed by reworking on the legislative aspect of the law enforcement system and realize a more uniformed system. The findings in this case study are a potential resource for future studies and developmental research for both in the organizational management field and legislation. Evaluating an organization’s benchmark encompasses an opportunity to identify flaws and addressed weaknesses for improvement and higher efficiency.
- Conclusion
- The assessment made to the UK and UAE benchmarks reflects the differences in dimensions of police performance in which determination of flaws are detrimental for future improvements. The lack of standardized approach to law enforcement does not only hinder progressive approach to maintaining law and order. The traditional practices imposed by Islamic religious laws and legislative law enforcement innovations in UAE create a contradiction to implementation of standard approach in law enforcement best practices. On the other hand, the fragmented structure of the UK law enforcement encompasses the lack of standard rule of conduct that law enforcers should adhere upon to maintain public confidence and public safety.
References
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Secretary of State for the Home Department (2010). Policing in the 21st Century: Reconnecting police and the people. London: The Stationery Office.
Tarbuck, A. and Lester, C. (2009). Dubai's Legal System: Creating Legal and Regulatory Framework for a Modern Society. Motivate Publishing. 1, pp.5-16.
Appendices
Appendix 1. UAE law enforcement SWOT
Appendix 2. UK Law enforcement SWOT
