Muscat: The Royal Oman Police (ROP) is celebrating the Police Day today, 5 January, amid diverse, commendable achievements made as part of the renewed renaissance led by His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik.

ROP personnel proved their mettle in tackling developments of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, during which the ROP utilized modern technology to offer the best police services.

The achievements of the ROP would not have been a reality if it had not been for top standards of training and complete dedication to discipline.

The credit also goes to the role of society. Due to its centuries-old traits of peacefulness, tolerance and partnership with security services, Omani society has been the core element in the success of police action.

The relationship between police and society is a relationship between citizenship and cooperation.

It is the natural incarnation of the “authority of society”, which a collective voluntary stand that values the meaningfulness of procedures of law and order. This facilitates the mission of police in the preservation of human rights and the protection of members of the public against all sorts of crimes.

Society is the objective for which police service has been established and laws enacted. The ROP’s services benefit both citizens and residents in Oman.

Training of ROP personnel is offered in a variety of establishments, including the Sultan Qaboos Academy for Police Sciences (Nizwa) and Officers Training Institute (Muscat).

A prominent feat credited to the ROP this year is the fact that the Sultanate won a grade of “zero terrorism” in the 2020 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) for the eighth time in a row, albeit since the international index was initiated in 2012 by the Institute for Economics and Peace, the core asset of which is the Global Peace Index (GPI).

In reaffirmation of this approach, the rate of common crimes (theft, electronic fraud, money laundering, arson, human trafficking, drug trafficking, etc) dropped relatively in 2020. The ROP’s extensive efforts also reflected positively in cooperation with regional and international organisations.

The deployment of ROP corps is realized through day-to-day mobilization of police departments:-

The Coast Guards, based in Sidab, tackle piracy, smuggling and infiltration, besides coordinating with departments responsible for marine pollution control.

The Police Aviation monitor the Sultanate’s coast and the country’s difficult terrain, keeping an eagle’s eye on any suspicious actions (human trafficking, infiltration). This is in addition to lending strong support to search and rescue operations, air-lifting foodstuff to citizens in mountainous areas and rushing patients from those areas to health centres.

The Police Aviation also helped carry out the Covid-19 Supreme Committee’s decisions of nighttime (curfew) ban on movement by monitoring different locations.

Also, the Sultanate recently won 50th place globally (5th in the Arab world) in the international e-government report, which covered 193 countries. In 2018, Oman ranked among the “Highest Rated Countries” in electronic government services.

The ROP is a pioneer in setting up eOman Society through its services to citizens and residents (e-visas, civil status services, vehicle registration services, customs, to name a few).

The ROP app is an example to quote.

The ROP’s role undertaken by the Directorate General of Customs facilitated trade, logistics and e-inspection and auditing services.

Oman recently won first place among GCC states in the Cross-border Business Index. The modernisation of infrastructure at the Port of Sohar is an example of advanced e-customs services.

Bayan electronic window (linked to 48 government units) spearheaded this type of services and it won first prize in “Best Government Integrated Government Project” in 2018.

In terms of traffic services, road accidents dropped by 66.2 per cent between 2015 and 2019 (accidents dropped from 6,279 in 2015 to 2,120 in 2019) and the rate of accident occurrence dropped from 1 in one hour to 1 in 4 hours in 2019.

Other aspects of progress in police services include the use of simulation systems of driving instruction, an expanded participation of women in police services, the use of mobile apps and services and the use of the media to spread public awareness about novel fraud and swindling styles.