Individual Corruption

A different picture is presented by a 2008 academic paper by Humaid Mohamed Saed al-Muhairi of Queensland University of Technology. Of those who had contact with police in the previous 12 months, 54.5% found police behaviour to be unacceptable, with the chief offenders being the traffic police, followed by investigations and immigration. The main form of unacceptable behaviour came in the form of favouritism or nepotism, followed by unequal treatment of others on grounds of race, nationality, colour, religion or gender. There is a perception among respondents that they can do little about unacceptable police behaviour and that it is tolerated within UAE society. The main reasons for citizens not making official complaints is the fear of retaliation.

In 2009, Dubai police referred 36 alleged bribery cases for prosecution, according to US Department of State 2011.

Business Corruption

Companies surveyed in the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011 reveal that foreign companies have a high degree of trust in the police.

Political Corruption

Reports about the police being corrupt are not common, nor is there a perception of impunity of the police forces, according to the US Department of State 2009. The Ministry of Interior has intervened several times to assure that the police forces abide by the law and federal policies. However, foreign embassies have reportedly registered cases of police forcing victims of trafficking not to file official complaints. The police instead helped their 'employers' repatriating the victims before criminal charges were raised.

Frequency

World Economic Forum: The Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011:
- Business executives give the reliability of the police services to enforce law and order a high score of 6.2 on a 7-point scale (1 being 'cannot be relied upon at all' and 7 being 'can always be relied upon' with the average of the 139 countries covered being 4.3).