Questions/Answers

The Smart Police Station (SPS) is the first smart police station in the world to offer police services without any human interaction, holding a Guinness World Record certificate. As it seeks to prevent actions of inequalities and promote the highest level of safety and security in Dubai, the SPS offers 27 key services such as reporting crimes and traffic incidents as well as a further 33 services offering community services ranging from acquiring good-conduct certificates to providing social support for victims of family violence. Through the ease of reporting these incidents, police officers are notified in a short period of time, and support mechanisms are devised to support the victims in every aspect, whether financially and/or socially. The SPS operates round the clock, and provides services in the most discrete manner to its customers, to serve the confidentiality of their cases and provide a free and trust-worthy environment for them to express their cases without intervention or manipulation of facts. The SPS will set the pathway for other policing agencies across the world to follow Dubai Police's vision and strategies in order to establish policing units with minimal resources to achieve highest policing and security qualities.

The SPS promotes digital transformation in the public sector institution as it is an automated station that serves the public round the clock, without any staff intervention. The idea is that people can seek assistance remotely and interact with police officers through video conferencing, whenever required. Moreover this initiative utilizes latest technologies and monitoring techniques to provide highest level of security and spread the sense of safety among the public.

This initiative contributes to implementing the 2030 Agenda in multiple ways including: • Gender Equality: provides instant measures to tackle discrimination and violence towards women and enhances the use of technology towards women empowerment. • Industries, Innovation & Infrastructure: promoting sustainability by increasing resource-efficiency and adopting clean environmental technologies • Climate Change: saving resources by digital transformation of the policing service • Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions: ensure everyone enjoys a prosperous life free from fear and violence to achieve sustainable development. • Global Partnerships: provide an opportunity for global partnerships so that other countries can benefit and save resources

International studies showcase that in many areas across the world, community members tend to exhibit fear from interacting with police officers. This fear is caused by the profile of a policing entity being a law enforcement agency that is associated with punishments for illegal actions as an effective remedy. In addition, Women and children especially in this culture are unaware of their rights; therefore, in most cases they fail to report harassments. However, Dubai Police profile is rather known as a community-based policing agency that seeks to provide sound and sustainable solutions to educate the public and raise awareness of their rights as a first step towards crime prevention. With Dubai being an international business hub, it is home to over 200 nationalities and received over 15.8 million visitors in 2017 only. The SPS offers a confidential service point where all members of the society can inquire about their rights, file complaints, and request for procedures and policies. As some people may not feel comfortable approaching a conventional police station, the SPS provides a sense of discretion and confidentiality to avoid any discomfort. Most importantly, the station provides convenient services for handicapped people and saves them time and effort.

The SPS initiative introduces the future of policing for any police station in the world. Being the first smart automated police station in the world, it provides a virtual interaction for the public, ease and convenience in seeking assistance and follow up. It is an incremental innovation stemming from Dubai Police smart mobile services, where residents and visitors can request for support through their mobile phone applications. Cases filed from the SPS can be tracked and traced by the requesters right from the comfort of their home, using their mobile apps or internet browsers.

The initiative is the first of its kind in the world, stemming from the evolution of the smart services framework in Dubai Police. Over the past ten years, Dubai Police integrated smart applications into its system, with over 75 services are offered through the applications, however, tracking of application progress must be followed by a visit to the station. The SPS comes as a developed to reduce effort and waiting time and reduce congestion in the police stations. With the SPS, Incidents reporting take place on the spot, while status can be tracked via smart apps and mobile phones.

The SPS has gained the costumer’s satisfaction and reduced operational costs compared to conventional police stations. With this efficiency and success, Dubai Police launched 2 new SPS stations in the downtown (crowded) areas of Dubai, areas where tourists and residents often visit, to allow for easier access to all users. In addition, in November 2018, Dubai Police showcased the SPS at the Smart Cities Exhibition in Barcelona where it received great positive impact from the audience. Benchmark and feasibility studies are currently taking place to verify the success of expanding the concept beyond the Emirate of Dubai.

A team of experts from Dubai Police and leading technology experts from different organizations was formed to plan and launch the SPS. Other external stakeholders, such as Meraas, a real-estate developer seeking the development of happy communities, contributed in financing the initiatives and hosting it in one of the busiest areas in Dubai. A total investment of AED six million was used for the full development of the SPS. This includes also the improvements carried out throughout the SPS lifetime, which were a result of customers feedback from their experience.

The SPS initiative contributes to achieving sustainability as it: 1) Socially: Simplifies social interaction for the public users, saves time, avoids congestion and queues. It allows for instant processing at any time of the day and can communicate with the user in any language of their preference. 2) Economically: Saves expenditures associated with running police stations such as office and printing supplies, furniture, kitchen supplies and others. Internal studies have shown that operating a conventional police stations costs an average of AED 60 million, whereas the cost of operating the SPS is averaged around AED 6 million (10% of the conventional cost). 3) Environmentally: Reduces energy consumption (electricity and water) as it requires no human presence in the station itself. The tools used to operate the SPS are of highest energy efficiency consumption, which significantly reduces the carbon footprint associated with the services offered by Dubai Police. Digital transformation also eliminates printing as all documents are available online and accessed via smart phones; thereby saving resources and decreasing the negative impacts on the environment.

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The SPS initiative was evaluated on its progress of operation on a year-to-year basis, and compared against the conventional police stations running in areas of similar customer exposure through residents and tourists visits. The evaluation included measuring customer satisfaction through ease of transaction, request processing time, service delivery time, and waiting time for customers visiting the station. Productivity and cost measures were also evaluated for cost reduction and efficiency, and customers satisfaction of transaction and request costs.

The indicators used are correlated with Dubai Police’s ability to perform its core business operations in the most efficient and productive manner possible. The indicators used to evaluate the initiative include: 1) Customer satisfaction rates, measured through surveys and online questionnaires 2) Service application time: measured from the moment the applicant request an application 3) Awaiting time of application receipt. 4) Service accomplishment time and closure of request 5) Service cost 6) Over All Productivity measured in total number of successful request and transactions performed

The assessment of the key performance indicators and its associated results show that: 1) Customer satisfaction rate for the SPS customers was recorded at 94.3%, while a police station operating in similar geographical area recorded 64.2%. 2) Service application time for SPS customers is 5 minutes, while a conventional police station requires 63 minutes. 3) Waiting (processing) application time for SPS customers is instantaneous, while a conventional police station requires an average of 61 minutes. 4) Service accomplishment time for SPS customers amounted to a total of 5 minutes while a conventional police station requires 124 minutes.

Internal stakeholders from Dubai Police were involved in the initiative by assigning project management charter to conduct brainstorming sessions that focused on strength, weaknesses, hotspots demand, areas for improvement and researching advanced and reliable technologies. The teams also worked on the best design for the station taking into account efficiency in construction and operation, as well as choosing the appropriate location. On the other hand, external stakeholders, such as Meraas, a real-estate developer seeking the development of happy communities, contributed in financing the initiatives and hosting it in one of the busiest areas in Dubai. In addition, customers played a critical role as external stakeholders as their feedback from experience is used to improve the SPS services and develop new services as deemed required from the public.

The SPS proves that digital transformation is by a no means a method that reduces employment rates, but rather an advanced tool that simplifies processes both for the customer and service provider. This initiative proves that resources can develop in their career paths from simple customer representatives at police counters to research and development officers who cater for improving the customer services experience. Future plans include the diversion of financial resources used to operate buildings in current police stations to capacity building, research and development in the areas of smarter police stations for the happiest customers experiences.