Tag: police

Last year I posted about the cop cars getting a facelift and it looks like they’re finally going into circulation now. The MOI posted the video above on YouTube showing off the new paint scheme as well as explaining what the different vehicles are for with the main ones being:

Black + Yellow: Rescue Patrol
Blue + Yellow: Traffic Police
Black + Grey: General Security Patrol

[YouTube]

According to an article in Al Anba newspaper, the Ministry of Interior have decided to tackle public smoking in malls by fining smokers. According to the article, first time offenders will be fined KD50 if caught smoking while repeat offenders will be fined KD100. The malls are also required to inform restaurants not to allow any smoking and no smoking signs should be put up to let restaurant diners and mall visitors know it’s a smoke-free environment. Any restaurant or mall that doesn’t comply will be fined up to KD50,000.

I thoroughly believe in the short term this will work but I’m curious to see if the police and the malls will continue to enforce this a couple of months down the line. If you remember Avenues was supposed to be a no smoking mall starting January 1st 2011 and that obviously was a complete flop.

According to an instagram post by the Ministry of Interior, the emergency lanes on some of the major highways are now open to the general public to use from 6AM to 10PM as long as you don’t exceed 45km/h. The roads are the ones highlighted in blue in the map above. Their post is in Arabic so I couldn’t understand most of it but looking at the map my best guess is the emergency lanes they’re talking about are on the 30th, 40th, 50th and 60th roads, as well as the 5th and 6th Ring Roads.

Now for a bit of venting…

Why isn’t this information on their website? What about all the expats like me who can’t read Arabic? Why is the road open only from 6AM to 10PM? I mean if it’s open during the whole day why not just keep it open 24/7 instead of making it illegal after 10PM. It just complicates things. And why are they limiting the speed to 45km/h? Why don’t they just pave the road and turn it into a proper lane and again simplify things. It’s as if they still haven’t made up their minds on if they should completely cancel the emergency lanes or keep them.

It looks like the cop cars are getting a graphical facelift. The images in this post have been circulating social media showing four new car graphics for the cop cars. I kinda like the current blue and fluorescent yellow combo we have right now, the new colors seem a bit dull.

Awhile ago as I was pulling up into my street and into my buildings underground parking, I noticed a cop car parked on the side of the road. I then noticed a bunch of cars that were parked legally on the side of the road had tickets on them. So I pulled up next to the cop and I asked him if this was a no parking street, he replied saying no he’s ticketing them for “عرقلة” which means obstruction.

What exactly are these cars obstructing (for example the 4 pictured on top)? I checked the tickets and noticed he left the space where he’s supposed to explain what the ticket is for blank. That can’t be right or fair can it?

I was in Kuwait City yesterday heading to a meeting when I spotted a Police Can-Am 3-wheel motorbike parked. Not sure when they got them but have been fairly recent since I hadn’t seen a cop version before.

I’m going to start sharing some of the photos I got from my last trip to the KOC photography archive. This group of photos in this post are of the old Kuwaiti police force, I don’t have a specific date but I’d say the photos were probably taken in the 60s.

Photos courtesy of the KOC Information Team.

A short video has been circulating showing a police officer abusing a detainee at what looks to be a police station. The police officer is forcing the detainee to perform pushups before hitting him on his back and then kicking his stomach.

This isn’t the first time a video has popped up showing a cop abusing a detainee but it does come soon after the recent video of the cop insulting an expat woman on camera so the cop behind this might be made an example of. [YouTube]

I didn’t think the police were allowed to film civilians and I was also told we weren’t allowed to film the police. In this specific video the cop supposedly utters an obscenity as well according to the uploader. I say supposedly because the obscenity is censored so you can’t make out what the cop says. [YouTube]

A friend sent me the video below which according to the uploader was recorded just a few days ago. Not really sure what started this incident but in the video you can see the cops being chased away by some young men who start throwing bottles at their car. Later in the video the riot police show up but they get welcomed with green laser beams. Check out the full video below.

[YouTube]

Update: Video has been removed by the uploader.

I got the image above via whatsapp yesterday but I dismissed it as a fake, something someone might have created to go viral but according to Arab Times its actually true. People who use the emergency lanes during traffic will now be detained at the police station for up to 48 hours and also have their cars impounded for three months. I really hope this law actually gets enforced. [Link]

Thanks Fahad

The other day I noticed a bunch of old police cars on display outside the small police museum in Bneid Al Gar. I’m not sure how long they’ve been there for but they must be recent since I hadn’t noticed them before. Other than the ones pictured, there were two or three more older ones parked to the side.

I haven’t been inside the museum yet but in case you’re interested, they’re open from 8:30AM to 12PM and then again from 4:30PM to 8PM. On Fridays they’re open just from 4:30PM to 8PM. Here is the location on [Google Maps]

Fourteen suspects have been arrested in connection with an attack on a police patrol during a wedding party in western Kuwait City, the Interior Ministry said Friday.
…
The policemen had gone to the wedding party to demand that guests refrain from firing guns into the air during celebrations.
[Source]

I got the video on top a few days ago but didn’t really know what the story was until I read the article above. Pretty messed up.

It frustrates me when I hear stories of cops impounding cars because of a small stickers on the rear window but then I see scenes like the one above where a cop completely ignored a much more dangerous situation. The ATV above obviously isn’t street legal hence the lack of a license plate or any indicator lights but if that wasn’t enough the rider was texting on his phone when the cop just drove past him like nothing was wrong.