General Khamis Mattar Al Muzaina, chief of Dubai Police said “Anybody can download the new police application from Apple store and use ‘Police Eye’ to give us tips about anything suspicious,” he said.“It’s not necessary to mention your name and details. Just pass the information to us on your smartphone.”
The UAE already has issues with the over reporting of alleged crimes, particularly harassment, offensive or abusive behaviour.
While an Application such as "Police Eye" can be useful in tackling serious crime, we expect that it will increase reporting of matters that may otherwise have been rendered unimportant by the accuser and could possibly lead to clogging up the Police Stations and Judiciary.
While it remains that residents can report crime if they see it, an application makes it easy and possibly even "fun" to report crime on the spot. We expect that there will be an increase in the number of reports of behaviour considered offensive, such as public affection, road disputes, inappropriate clothing and alcohol consumption.
The App essentially turns residents into law enforcers and turns citizens against eachother. What is created is a society where the subjects are turned against eachother and renders them vulnerable to oppression. Division is created where the residents are made busy, monitoring eachother.
We caution visitors and residents of the UAE that they are now even more vulnerable to frivalous reports from disgruntled individuals.
Further reports can be seen here: