MANAMA, 7 September 2004 — More than 1,000 Bahraini men and women have applied for 500 jobs in the proposed community police force in the country’s five governorates, according to a senior officer at the Interior Ministry.
The official said the decision to apply the concept of community police came in line with the ministry’s plans to provide better service to the public.
Acting director of the Training and Guards Directorate at the Interior Ministry and head of the employment committee, Col. Ibrahim Al-Ghaith, also affirmed that members of the new force would not play the role of religious police or undercover agents. Their main function would be to prevent crimes and deter criminals.
“Their role would be reinforced by the fact that members of the community would have more confidence in dealing with them as they come from within the communities they serve,” he said.
“Members of the community have trust and confidence in the policemen and we want to reinforce and strengthen that feeling by offering them extra through the community police,” Al-Gaith added.
He said the new policemen would have uniforms and might be lightly armed.
“They have the same authorities that policemen at the ministry have, but they are trained to apply the concept of community policing,” he said. “They would undergo intensified training and education during their six-month training at the Royal Police Academy to help prepare them for the role of policemen in the community.”
They will deal with low-level community-related security issues such as drug use, theft and domestic violence, said Al-Gaith.
They would also serve the community by staying in touch with ex-convicts, the victims of crimes and underage delinquents.
“Policemen from the security directorates and the Najdah would still have their role to play in responding to such incidents and they would not be replaced by the community police,” he said. “The whole idea behind the community police is to prevent these incidents from taking place and resolving them in a friendly manner and from within the community.”
Al-Gaith added that one of the proposed mechanisms to manage this new police force is a new directorate created under the command of the public security at the ministry.
“We have not finalized how they would operate but having them under one directorate would ensure that they all maintain the same high-level of training and preparedness,” he said.
Al-Gaith said, “The ministry began training its officers about five years ago to prepare them for the implementation of the program. We sent officers to the United Kingdom for training at various universities in preparation to adopt the program.”
Earlier the ministry said that more than 18 ranking officers were selected based on merit and the prospect of holding leadership positions in various directorates and sent overseas to undergo that training.
The Ministry of Interior also began teaching the concept of community policing to new officers and policemen at the Royal Police College more than three years ago.
According to the ministry, the community policing program had been implemented at the Civil Defense and Fire Service Directorate, the Women Police Directorate, the Coast Guard Directorate and the General Directorate of Traffic.
The ministry was also studying the possibility of implementing the program across all its directorates following the conclusion of the 10th International Police Executive Symposium in Bahrain last year.
Al-Gaith said that the concept was not new to Bahrain since in the past there was a similar format adopted by the community.
“This is not a new concept and the fact it is being implemented across the world reflects the ministry’s keenness to offer the highest level of service to the public,” he said. “The program had been modified so it would be suitable for the Bahraini community.”
Women would also play a role in the community police, according to Al-Gaith who said that 25 percent of the force would be composed of female officers. He added that they were surprised by the strong turnout of women who applied for the program.
Young men and women stood in queues for hours at application filing centers at the security directorates of the five governorates to apply for the jobs. Bahrainis who are aged between 18 and 30, secondary school graduates, and residents of the governorates they apply for, are eligible for the job.
