Dubai Police Security has released a book on how to predict and address social unrest, urging security personnel around the country and beyond to read it.

Written in Arabic, the book titled “Predicting Social Unrest” is authored by Dr Freydoon Mohammed Najeeb, an academician attached to the Centre for Decision Support at Dubai Police.

It was launched by the director of the Centre, Dr Mohammed Murad Abdullah. It mentions scores of indicators that could lead to social unrest and guides on how to prevent the unrest.

The book serves as an early warning of social dissatisfaction among the population and how to arrest the situation.

“This work is very important because it guides the security and authorities to carry out early intervention in addressing the situation,” said Dr Murad. He went on to request all the police stations to have a copy. “It specifies who should do what among the authorities.”

He added that the book was very important for countries in the region, especially for those nations that are susceptible to social and political unrest.

Among the indicators of social unrest listed in the book are “gauging the share of national income of the poorest 20 per cent of the population as well as knowing the number of people living below the poverty line in the country.”

Others indicators include the level of unemployment and carrying out comparisons between people’s income and expenditure on food and housing and the number of people sharing a room.

The book goes on to advise security to be alert in “monitoring blogs and online publications, knowing the competency of the working force, people’s opinions on the current affairs and salary levels vis-à-vis inflation.”

According to Dr Murad, “Once these aspects are addressed on time by the authorities, it is possible to prevent the unrest.”

“It is one of the most important works we have had in this Centre,” said Dr Murad.