The Ministry of Interior, represented by the GIS Security Center of the Abu Dhabi Police, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Environmental Systems Research Institute. The Ministry of Interior aims to rely on the GIS Security Center, which will be the first institute accredited by the ESRI, to provide training for the governmental sector in the UAE, serve the police, security and military personnel nationwide, and qualify UAE nationals as international trainers on the technology of GIS from ESRI.
The signing of the MoU fulfills the instructions of the police leadership; it is a step towards realizing the UAE government’s 2021 vision, and the vision of Abu Dhabi 2030, in terms of investing in the national human resources, and focusing on Emiratizing technology and modern, vital sciences in the country.
The MoU was signed by Major General Ahmad Nasser Al Raissi, Director General of Central Operations of the Abu Dhabi Police, and Jack Dangermond, Founder of the US-based ESRI.
The signing ceremony was attended by Lt. Colonel Nasser Suleiman Al Maskari, Deputy Director of the Operations Department of the Abu Dhabi Police, who is in charge of the “effective response objective” of the GIS project; Captain Mohammad Saleh Al Mansouri, Director of the GIS Security Center, Manager of the Strategic Initiative of the project, Lieutenant Mohammad Saeed Al Mansouri from the center; a number of US ESRI officials; and the ESRI representative in the MEA.
According to the agreement, ESRI is to provide the educational means for the institute for the entire year, within a training plan that targets the function of every employee. It is a new achievement added to the plan of the Ministry of Interior, and the Abu Dhabi Police towards accomplishing the goals of the government in raising the level of Emiratization in the field of technology and other vital specializations in the country, and investing in the competent national human resources.
A delegation from the Ministry of Interior headed by Major General Al Raissi, and representatives of the project of the GIS Security Center took a tour in Redlands University in California, USA, during which the delegation, accompanied by the founder of ESRI, met the University President, Dr. James Appleton.
The tour included a visit to the establishments and facilities of the university; the delegation discussed investment in training and educating officers and non-commissioned officers of the Ministry of Interior and the Abu Dhabi Police in the field of GIS, in line with the strategy of the General Department of Human Resources of the Abu Dhabi Police. The training and education for these personnel strives to achieve the aspirations of the government in empowering the national human resources and leveraging foreign experiences in these specializations.
The visit aims to fill the needs of the GIS Security Center with graduates specialized in GIS, survey and land science, extracting and analyzing information from satellite pictures, and the fields of identifying geographical locations from those pictures. The tour unveiled the excellence of the university in the field of GIS, and in training programs, undergraduate and postgraduate programs.
The delegation attended a lecture delivered by a Master of Arts (M.A.) student in GIS, delegated from the Ministry of Interior from the Kingdom of Bahrain, under a Bahraini Ministry of Interior program for academically qualifying its officers in the field of GIS.
Al Raissi discussed the tangible benefits of academic education in the GIS police program of Bahrain, and the practical applications of such advanced technologies with the Bahraini student, in the presence of his supervisor.