133 inmates to be electronically tagged instead of being imprisoned: Abu Dhabi Police

Around 133 inmates of the punitive and correctional establishments of the Abu Dhabi Police, ADP, will be electronically tagged, as an alternative to pre-trial detention and imprisonment, with the potential for early release in 2018.

Brigadier Ahmed Saif bin Zaitoun Al Muhairi, Director of the Community Security Sector, highlighted the ADP’s interest in adopting the latest technologies that will improve its services and help it gain the community’s confidence.

Brigadier Ahmed Masoud Al Mazrouei, Director of the Police Follow-Up Department at the Community Security Sector, explained that the ADP began utilising electronic surveillance, through the use of electronic bracelets, according to Federal Law Decree No. 17 for 2018 related to amending certain provisions of the "Code of Criminal Procedure" issued by Federal Law No. 35 for 1992, based on related rulings issued by the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department.

He added that the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department decided to sentence 28 convicts to electronic surveillance instead of imprisonment, as well as 105 other cases as an alternative to pre-trial detention or prison while explaining that those convicted are referred to the Police Follow-Up Department, which registers their names, explains the conditions and installs the bracelets.

Lt. Colonel Saif Al Wahdi, Chairman of the Police Follow-Up Department, said that electronic surveillance works in two ways, with the first involving continuous radio transmission while the second involves satellite surveillance.

The electronic bracelet, which is placed on the ankle throughout the period of the sentence transmits electronic signals to the department’s operations centre specifying the location of the convict, and if the device is removed or tampered with, the operations centre is automatically notified, he added.

Al Wahdi noted that electronic monitoring will help integrate convicts into the community, discourage them from returning to a life of crime, reduce overcrowding in correctional institutions, lower related costs, and maintain family cohesion.

The ADP first used electronic surveillance in October 2017, and it was adopted in January 2018 as an alternative to imprisonment by the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department.

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