Treat your maids well: Dubai Police

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)  The Dubai Police have launched a campaign aimed at encouraging people to treat their housemaids well in a bid to reduce crimes by such persons. The General Department of Criminal Investigation will run the campaign in cooperation with government departments, including the Ministry of Social Affairs, Public Prosecution, Child Protection Department at the Ministry of Interior, and General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs. Colonel Dr Mohammed Nasser Abdul Razak, Deputy Director of the General Department of Criminal Investigation, said during a Press conference on Monday that maids and domestic helpers have become a part of our community but could pose a real threat to the security and safety of our families if they are ignored or treated with contempt or disdain. To illustrate, he said the number of crimes reported to be committed by domestic helpers in the past year was 1,258, while there were 1,395 such incidents in 2011 and 1,276 in 2010. The majority of the cases had been about absconding from the sponsor, followed by indecent assault, dishonest behaviour and theft. Colonel Ahmed Thani bin Ghalita, Director of the Anti-crime Department, said officials would deal with maid abuse cases based on physical evidence and reports from forensic experts. The campaign will raise awareness on how to fight crimes involving domestic helpers and also abuse by and of them. In this context, Director of Training and Criminal Development Colonel Ahmed Al Marri said maids must be treated as strategic partners of families, contributing to the education and caring of children. This would have a good impact on the children in terms of moral values, language, customs and traditions. Many of the maids are dealing with young as well as older children who are unable to express themselves in the right manner if they are subjected to retaliatory harm because of the ill-treatment meted out to them by the employers, delay in payment of wages or excessive work, he reminded families. In one recent case, a mother lodged a complaint against her maid after her two-year-old son suffered a gash in the mouth which the maid claimed happened when the toddler fell. The subsequent investigation revealed that this was not the case. Finally, the maid admitted that she had caused it. Col Al Marri said being soft on maids is important as some of them could resort to unethical practices like witchcraft and sorcery, and stealing because of their neglect by some families. He said employers need to pay maids on time, put them in good conditions, not force them to do an unreasonable amount of work and treat them with respect, as crimes committed by domestic helpers "cannot (be) seperated" from the way they are treated.