CAIRO - In a bid to alter the Egyptians' negative perception about the police, a group of police officers have recently created a coalition, which has started to reach out to the public and the media. Ordinary Egyptians' view on the police has been slanted in the wake of the January 25 revolution, which forced former president Hosni Mubarak to step down. On January 28, dubbed the 'Friday of Anger' the police were mysteriously withdrawn from the streets and all police stations throughout the country, resulting in a lack of security and state of instability throughout Egypt. “People accuse us of abandoning the police stations. In fact, it was the former corrupt officials of the Interior Ministry, who ordered the police to shoot at protesters and leave the stations. They are blameworthy for the unrest,” said Major Ahmed Ragab, the spokesperson for the General Coalition of Police Officers. “After the toppling of Mubarak, we rushed to Al Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the revolution, to support the revolt and declare that we denounce the former officials' policies,” affirmed Ragab. The coalition is made up of around 15,000 police officers. “Its members seek equality among all officers of the same ranks, salaries raised and the police institution developed, ” elaborated Ragab. “Hopefully, the new leaders of the Ministry of the Interior are set to adopt new fair-minded policies, concerning the daily work system, the officers' holidays and transparent election of the Police Club's board,” he added. However, another member of the coalition pointed out: “The Ministry of the Interior lacks strategic, scientific methodology to run and organise the security institution.” Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Nabil Omar, the head of the coalition's Legal Affairs Committee, believes that reform police policies will take time. “The conditions of unrest that the Egyptians are suffering from nowadays will continue for two reasons.” According to him there are still corrupt officials inside the Ministry. “Secondly, the policemen cannot operate daily works because they are apprehensive of ordinary people, who refuse police's intervention in any problem,” explained Omar. He urged the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, to issue a decree to help the police do their job in applying the law. “In the current critical phase, the Ministry's of the Interior strategy has to focus on three basics developing the security technologies, making the citizens feel secure and preserving the social and economic security ,” stated Lieutenant Colonel Alaa Abdel-Wahab, an officer at Central Security Sector. “People should differentiate between the minority corrupt policemen and the rest the dedicated officers who seek the nation's stability and advancement,” said Major Mina Dos, another member of the coalition.
