Dubai Forums Dubai Discussions Dubai General Chat

I think it is not a good idea for plain-clothed policemen to question passengers. It is best a uniformed officer does the questioning in order not to confuse the passenger whether he (or she) is dealing with a real policeman.

We don’t know how the passenger was approached by the officer, whether the officer identified himself properly or not, how the passenger reacted (he could’ve been drinking and rude himself),….etc!

Whatever, the moral of the story is: try to always keep your cool, esp. with people in authority -- even if you think you were provoked!!!!

Here is the story as reported by The National on Friday:

Traveller accused of swearing at officer

By Charlie Hamilton

Last Updated: October 29. 2009 11:12PM UAE / October 29. 2009 7:12PM GMT

An Australian private security contractor was arrested for allegedly swearing at a policeman at Dubai airport.

The 32-year-old man from Adelaide was travelling through Dubai International Airport on September 27, and was understood to be returning from a three-month stint in Afghanistan when he was stopped by a plain-clothes police officer.

An argument ensued and the Australian was detained for 24 hours, accused of using insulting and inappropriate language to a police official, according to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

He was released on bail the following day but his passport was confiscated and he was ordered not to leave the country. If convicted, he could face up to three years in jail.

A DFAT spokeswoman confirmed the man had been detained and was receiving consular assistance.

“His passport was retained by the UAE authorities and his case has been referred to the public prosecutor,” she said. “[He] most recently e-mailed the consular officer at Dubai Consulate General requesting consular assistance. ”

Mohammed bin Thani, the director of airport security at Dubai Police, confirmed that the incident took place but declined to give further information as he said the case was currently with the public prosecution service.
The DFAT spokeswoman added: “It’s important to keep in mind that when Australians become involved in criminal or judicial process overseas, there is a limit on what the Australian government can do for them.

“In particular, the government cannot interfere in judicial proceedings in a foreign country, just as we wouldn’t welcome any attempt by a foreign government to interfere with the judicial processes in Australia.”

The case echoes that of Nicole Stroop, a 34-year-old Canadian, who was arrested and had her passport confiscated for almost a month after a row with a high-ranking immigration official at the airport in October last year.

She was not accused of swearing but was charged with being disrespectful towards an airport official. She also faced charges relating to drinking alcohol without a licence.

The case was dropped and her passport was returned after she made a formal apology.

Ghadi Mathbout, a legal consultant with Al Maddfa Advocates and Legal Consultants, based in Abu Dhabi, said many visitors got into trouble because they failed to learn about the UAE’s laws.“The punishments are often more strict here than they are used to,” he said.

chamilton@thenational.ae

* With additional reporting by Wafa Issa

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll ... 99826/1010

Almost all your posts are against Dubai for some reason. I think some lady cheated on you here or something

Most of us read The National... try and be positive and you would attravt positivity

Well no, Tom has a valid point posting this up as a warning for everyone travelling through the airports and indeed any way into and out of the country.

We do tend to forget that things that would be brushed under the carpet anywhere else, are made a big deal of here.

Why do locals take great satsifaction from seeing someone going to jail for insulting them instead of just dealing with it themselves?
And forcing someone to beg and grovel via an offical apology is not exactly noble either.
I would find it much more gratifying to fire back a better insult and leave it at that.

First, he was coming back from Afghanistan, not actually a holiday destination. Probably anxious and tired and just wanted to get home.

Second, he didn't leave the airport. He either drank on the plane or at the terminal, not outside the airport. If drinking without a license on an airplane or in the airport, then why don't they shut down the bars and stop serving alcohol on all flights that come into Dubai?

Sorry, but that's a lot of crap. The mere fact that he was in Afghanistan - a war zone, and serving his country in whatever capacity, he had to be stressed out. I'm sure that the UAE supports the actions that are being taken in Afghanistan, but I would like to know how many locals are over helping the cause.

We all know that rules are made to be broken or bent; well in this case they should throw them out, apologize to him and let him go home!

I'm sure there more to this that just this, even the story says they got into an "argument" first. probally started out when the dude started showing attitude and crap on some small matter. The Dubai police is pretty much very tolerant specially high visibilty places like the Airport.

I've seen this many a times, " Hey I'm white and better than you towel heal " attitude and I don't think anyone would put up with that. Even know a russian couple of being returned back on the next flight after the boyfriend got into a physical tussle with a cop. Probally was the lucky one.

P.S : The National sure does have a lot of "stories" on dubai, not much on the Abu Dhabi front though.

if it's a case of locals then you will see many passengers in jail or treated badly but like desertdudeshj said, it's just a classic senior of a white dude thinking he is superior in the Mideast, well maybe in other countries but in UAE we don't give a shi* about you or your country, treat ppl like you wana be treated period. if you cross the line we'll make sure to smack you the minute you think of giving attitude in our land. other than that you and others will be treated with all the respect and hospitality that a respectful visitors deserves.

I don't get it way is automatically a local mistake to you !! but hey ,you can't do nothing about it .

Hard to come to a conclusion here, but airports are generaly sensitive zones world over. Yes the staff are on their best behavior, but even the slightest inkling of violent behaviour can get you in a soup. Not just UAE but airports anywhere in the world.

Some of the replies on this thread reeks of racism. How do you know the arrested was infact being racist because of his/her ME perceptions?

Besides it clearly mentioned that he was stopped by a PLAIN CLOTHED Police Officer. Could've been a misunderstanding maybe, or maybe there's more to it than meets the eye. But to put it down to racist behaviour? Now that awfully presumptious.

Yes its presumptious, just as is taking away all blame from the ozzy and making him look like a totally innocent bystander in this whole affair.

He may have showed an attitude; However its a bit of a joke that swearing can lead someone to 3 years in jail, while underage driving or running over people at a zebra crossing leads to 6 months...

Nah. I like the one where someone throws himself in front of your car while you are doing 100 kms on SZR, you go to jail, initial charge is murder, spend a few days there, some genius decides that it wasn't actually "murder" and then you have to pay blood money because the dead man commited suicide so that his family would collect the blood money.

Yup, every incident has to boil down to skin color, religion, nationality. What else is new?

uaekid wrote: treat ppl like you wana be treated period. .

does that work only one way? The guy at the car wash yesterday who screamed at the worker in Arabic calling him animal, because he was wiping the car slowly, or the guy at lift today who got angry because I was getting off on a floor before him seemed to have no idea of respect....

I am intrigued as to how this mentality of "You can treat others badly as long as its your country" came about...

Well not to be taking sides BBrovers, this kind of attitude is mostly from the " lehme jabneh "Lebanese, Syrians, Egyptians etc etc crowd. Yes a few "Hywan" are there among every nationality but I would not say the majority of the Emarati population is like that.

Out in the rural areas there are most are very hospitable and friendly people out there

Chocoholic wrote:Well no, Tom has a valid point posting this up as a warning for everyone travelling through the airports and indeed any way into and out of the country.

We do tend to forget that things that would be brushed under the carpet anywhere else, are made a big deal of here.

Thanks Chocs!

Yeah…Here on DF , we also ‘educate’, not just fight!!

desertdudeshj wrote:I'm sure there more to this that just this, even the story says they got into an "argument" first. probally started out when the dude started showing attitude and crap on some small matter. The Dubai police is pretty much very tolerant specially high visibilty places like the Airport.

I agree!

It takes two to tango!!

We can't really say who was at fault unless we know all facts!!

desertdudeshj wrote:Yes its presumptious, just as is taking away all blame from the ozzy and making him look like a totally innocent bystander in this whole affair.

Some people may have made excuses for the ozzy but no one has said that what he did was OK.
He did wrong and only has himself to blame for this.
But the reaction from the emirati is nothing to be proud of either.
All too often there is a story about an emirati who has been offended by someone, and their immediate response is to call the police and request that the person be arrested.

I will let you think about what other options are available, and which is the most honourable, but having the person arrested is the most cowardly.

Misery Called Life wrote:Some of the replies on this thread reeks of racism. How do you know the arrested was infact being racist because of his/her ME perceptions?

It is peculiar, but there might be a race-related aspect to these stories. Perhaps such stories get reported more often when Westerners are involved, or perhaps because some Westerners have somewhat of a snobbish attitude, when dealing with people from the so-called 3rd world countries. And such attitude often gets them in trouble!

I don’t know!

However, I tend to think that most Westerners do not understand how to deal with people of non Western countries, esp. with those in authority. For example, in the Middle East, the police and civil servants are not as courteous as those in Western countries, which is considered a normal, acceptable behavior in this part of the world. The police don’t mean to be disrespectful by being cold and discourteous but that’s how a lot of people speak to each other in these parts! Some new Westerners could take offence to being spoken to in this manner, and consequently get defensive, and even become hostile -- esp. with booze in their system!!

desertdudeshj wrote:Out in the rural areas there are most are very hospitable and friendly people out there

Very true. These are the people who continue to embrace their culture in ways that have been forgotten by those who have become "citified" so to say. They represent true Arab spirit and have been untouched by the "nouveau Arab" lifestyle adopted by the locals. They are simple, hospitable, gracious and well mannered, all of which has been lost on those who now think they are above it all.

It is unusual in western countries to be approached by "plain clothes" officers. We tend to respect the uniform and what it stands for.

so there are no officals at all airports with suits (plain clothes) and hanging employess cards !!

benwj wrote:

desertdudeshj wrote:Yes its presumptious, just as is taking away all blame from the ozzy and making him look like a totally innocent bystander in this whole affair.

Some people may have made excuses for the ozzy but no one has said that what he did was OK.
He did wrong and only has himself to blame for this.
But the reaction from the emirati is nothing to be proud of either.
All too often there is a story about an emirati who has been offended by someone, and their immediate response is to call the police and request that the person be arrested.

I will let you think about what other options are available, and which is the most honourable, but having the person arrested is the most cowardly.

How about pistols at dawn!!!

uaekid wrote:so there are no officals at all airports with suits (plain clothes) and hanging employess cards !!

Yes of course there are old chap.

uaekid wrote:so there are no officals at all airports with suits (plain clothes) and hanging employess cards !!

of course there are, but they are not the ones to question you, they call acredited uniforms for that purpose so they remain unidentified, the very reason why they are in plain clothes. 1 week in jail (worst case scenario) for cursing at a police officer in NY, 3 years in Dubai !

Well once again sadly the possible punishment certainly does not fit the crime, it is a complete overreaction and it's very sad.

Tom Jones wrote:The police don’t mean to be disrespectful by being cold and discourteous but that’s how a lot of people speak to each other in these parts!

Thats the biggest load of bollocks if I ever saw one. TJ maybe you've been hanging around is some really weird places, or people just don't like your mug LOL !

Moving on. The story says it could possibly carry a jail term up to three years, not that he has been sentenced to three years. News reports always mention the maximum jail term for any charge, its routine.

He as in most cases of these sorts will probally be let go with a little slap on the wrist and some humble pie.

i have been stopped and asked for my passport several times by policemen in plain clothes. It happens in UK and several parts of Europe.

This guy probably thought, hey I am doing a good thing in Afghanistan and I am kicking Talibans ass so I should be treated like royalty and no1 should dare to ask me for my passport because I work for the USA

Secondly I dont see whats wrong with policemen in plain clothes asking you for your documents. It happens everywhere on earth. Do you think there are some fool ppl who go around pretending to be policeman in a airport with secuirty and policemen around him!!!!!

Morale of the story is, if and when asked for your documents, just present them rather then getting into a further trouble. This applies for Dubai and even if you are a muslim and travelling to USA

herve wrote:

uaekid wrote:so there are no officals at all airports with suits (plain clothes) and hanging employess cards !!

of course there are, but they are not the ones to question you, they call acredited uniforms for that purpose so they remain unidentified, the very reason why they are in plain clothes. 1 week in jail (worst case scenario) for cursing at a police officer in NY, 3 years in Dubai !

This guy will not get 3 years in dubai. That is guaranteed for sure. He will use his "wasta" in the Australian Embassy who will bail him out. But am sure he will be deported or something.

benwj wrote:I will let you think about what other options are available, and which is the most honourable, but having the person arrested is the most cowardly.

Try pulling a similar stunt at JFK or heathrow, specially if you are middle eastern or southeast asian looking. Forget about getting arrested you'd be lucky not to have your behind trawled to Gitmo.

Having to spent a few hours in detention and then bailed out. I think he faired very well.

Yeah and like sage said what "honourable" option a duel ? If your an plain clothes police man at an airport and someone messes with you, what do you do. Tell him to meet you in the parking lot ! LOOOL ! or do what is standard and proper procedure and put him under arrest.