The first member of the Gergawi family to join the Dubai Police was Ismail Abdullah Al Gergawi, who signed up in 1966. A seasoned officer, the person retired in 2004 and he was just 17 years old when he started as a police officer. “When I first got involved in the police force, you did not get many people running up to the police department to join,” Al Gergawi told Khaleej Times. “I wanted to help my people, and I enjoyed military activities,” the retired officer said; there was no army and when the police were formed, the officer became part of them. Early on, the Dubai Police Force comprised personnel from many countries of origin. According to Al Gergawi’s account, citizens at that time did not want to work in the Dubai Police Force because it was a concept that they could not understand. “Some joined the police, spent a week or 10 days, and then left.” However, Al Gergawi did not give up and kept on recruiting more citizens of the United Arab Emirates to join the force, and with time more citizens joined the force. “Four years later, more and more citizens came forward,” he said. He said, “I worked for over 30 years more especially in operations, police stations, and traffic, and also served as the Director of the Dubai Police Academy.” Some of the employees are still around in the company, for example, Maj.Gen. Juma Obaid Al Sayegh, who joined in 1971, shared his experiences and some of the challenges faced before. “It was not always that simple. Time was tight and all these days seemed to be filled with a lot of hours. Still, working through all the cases from the A to Z was inspiring.” He said that he has seen that the Dubai government has always and for a long time supported the police force as a way of paving the way for them and in the process assisting the force to form and grow.
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During the ceremony to laud veteran officers, Lieutenant General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri the Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police thanked the team. ”Men are honored today who, when they vowed their fidelity to God, remained faithful to that promise and exemplified the virtue of serving one’s nation. Today we pledge our word that we will do everything possible to make our emirate a country where security and safety reign,” he said.
