Police Investigation and Rights of Citizen

Understanding police investigations and citizens’ rights anywhere in the world is quite important. It is a moral duty of a citizen to know about their legal rights. It becomes very important when a person has to face police investigations or questioning. Because he can’t proceed easily without getting legal aid and having enough legal knowledge. Legal protection during police investigations in the UAE is often described as the state’s protection arranged for the individuals and escalating towards conclusion asap.

These Police investigations ensure that no misbehavior against the citizen takes place, and the person is treated according to the rule of law while getting justice. Even if the person is directly or indirectly involved in the criminal act, before the verdict, the person must be treated fairly during the investigation. The law that protects the legal rights of the investigation of a person comes under the Federal Law 38 of 2022 under criminal procedure. This law protects individuals during the investigation.

The UAE government provides a better system to investigate cases lawfully. One of the basic rights that is provided to the person is that they are told about the allegations, and the investigation is carried out following the rule of law. According to police investigations and citizens’ rights, torture, degrading treatment, or coercion is not allowed. UAE Criminal Procedure Law describes that a person cannot be arrested, searched, detained, or imprisoned without legal authority.

Legal protection during investigation in the UAE also states that the police may hold a suspect in custody for a limited initial investigation period only. Professional attorneys help individuals and companies in criminal cases by providing them with practical legal advice and litigation services. It is always recommended to seek professional and expert legal advice before taking further action.

Officers dealing with such cases are responsible for the investigations and collecting the relevant information and data that might help them to investigate the cases; in such cases, their core purpose is to interrogate the person as well. Under Federal Law No 38 of 2022, which is about the criminal procedure law, decision-maker authorities are required to follow defined legal procedures and directions while conducting the investigations. Anything included in the investigation e.g., arrest, detention, etc., should not exceed the defined investigation limits. UAE Law only permits the fairness and transparent investigation conducted by police department and the public prosecution. Recent developments in law include the use of modern electronic procedures and online hearings to create an ease.

One of the core purposes of the legal rights during investigation is to provide the citizen with the rightful rights during the investigation. Legal protection during investigation UAE ensures that the person must not be treated unfairly. Even the person has the right to ask the government why he is being investigated and under what cases he has been picked. It means a person has a right to ask why he has been picked up by the authorities, and under what rules he has been under investigation.

Statements that are made during the police investigation might be recorded and can be used against the person in publics prosecutions and courts, so it becomes very important to stay vigilant and make sure nothing is used against the person.

During the investigation, if the person does not provide the information willingly, the police have no righted to force him to provide anything against his will. It is also illegal if the police force an abducted person to issue a required statement. Though police departments in UAE are very professional but UAE government makes sure that a federal level legislation protects the citizen in UAE.

It is compulsory that in every case, the police case/police report has to be submitted to public prosecution along with the evidence and investigation report. Police has also right to dismiss the police complaint if the complainant can’t provide enough evidence to the police. Once the report is forwarded to public prosecution, then PP also conducts an investigation to make sure that justice is performed with transparency and fairness.  Police reports and the evidence, once submitted to the public prosecution, are evaluated and thoroughly checked, and once the evaluation is completed, the prosecution decides whether it should be sent to the courts or not.

Protecting the witness is the utmost responsibility of the police. If the witness is not willing to provide any statement, the police must respect them.

People of different nationalities and backgrounds are living in the United Arab Emirates. They all speak different languages. Arabic is the language of the court and law in the UAE. Therefore, a communication barrier due to language can be a serious challenge. For example, if a person does not understand Arabic or even English, then it will be difficult for the police to conduct the investigation, as well as difficult for the person to cooperate with the police department during the investigation. Therefore, translators can also be arranged, and this is the right of a citizen or resident.

We strongly recommend that you properly understand first what is the statement you are going to sign. Signing a statement document means that you are confessing. If you have accepted the false charges, then police report might declare you guilty. Eventually the same investigation results can also be kept the same by PP and Dubai Courts (DC). Understanding of Police Investigation is very important.

CCTV evidence, medical reports, forensic reports, etc., are very helpful to establish clear facts. It is a right of a person to ask for expert opinion, forensic report investigations, and technical evaluation by the experts. For example, if the case is about fraud, then financial experts can be hired to check records, transactions, audit reports. Similarly, IT experts can be hired to check cybercrimes. UAE law provides all these options to citizens during the police, PP, and DC investigations.

• Note: PP is the public prosecution, and DC is the Dubai Courts. If the matter is in a different emirate, then the relevant courts will be investigating rather than DC.

There is strict consequences of the false statements and false evidence if anything happens to distract the police from finding the truth, the court may go hard on the individuals that obstruct the case and distract the police from finding the truth. UAE law is very strict and can be brutal, and if they find out about such events

A complaint is a person who files the complaint in Police Station. A suspect is a person who is nominated by complainant under the investigation process but he has not been declared convict yet.