Weekend in Sharjah

I relay the story on behalf of its parties as is:

"I have always been hesitant of going to Sharjah, from the stories one hears and the bad rap of its security forces. I have never had the need to be concerned but one always takes what they hear and archives it in the corners of ones memory bank.

One of the stories that had terrified me was of a friend of mine who is local & from Sharjah. She is married and has children. She once told me that one Thursday evening her husband invited her to go for a drive, no need to wear anything fancy as they will just stroll around in the car, so she wore her House Shaila over her house dress and they drove off. As they sat in their car by a beach, a police cruiser passed by and stopped by them. The officer asked her husband for identification and demanded to know the relationship of the woman with him. So he told him that this was his wife and mother of his children, to which the police officer requested the marriage certificate!

The husband, offended, told him that he was not in the habit of carrying it around. So (to cut this short to get to the main reason I'm saying this) they took them to the station, gave her a physical to see if she was untouched, and called her father so that he may come and bail her out. SHE WAS WITH HER HUSBAND!

Now, after hearing such a story one might feel this is an exaggeration... until one hears other stories or experiences an adventure of their own...

Thursday night I went with a friend of mine (male) for a drive on the Sharjah side of Mamzar facing Qanat Al Qasba. The place is beautiful, untouched and there are many who go there yet it still retains its privacy. After sitting outside we moved to sit in the car as the breeze was cool and were chatting when a police cruiser passed by... I thought hmmm... I hope they don't stop by us as I am worried of the whole police ordeal... They didn't.

Around fifteen minutes later, a regular mercedes passes by so close by us that the side mirrors nearly touch. The guy says good evening and my friend answers, he says it again, wanting to have a look at my face... I respond... he leaves turns around and comes back blocking our cars way. He asks my friend to step out of the car and asks for his ID... I ask him for his. He shows me his ID from the Ministry of Interior, The Police Department. I show him my drivers license.

As he speaks to me bending low to the window I catch a strong wiff of alcohol. He asks me about what relation do I have with the guy I'm with. I tell him he's a friend and though I am aware that in Sharjah this is not allowed I do apologize. He asks me if he's my boyfriend and I said no. He winks and says its ok you can tell me and goes of on how many girlfriends he has and how I'm like his sister and my friend is like his brother etc... He asks me do you sit with your friend and I said well yes, he then asked me if I sleep with my friend and I told him indignantly of course not! He then says 'you know if you wanna come here just give me a call and I'll take care of you guys' (all this and he's holding both our ID's) He gives us both his mobile number etc... he tells me that he's married to two and his second wife is morrocan and how we can all go out together.

I keep wondering why the cruiser didn't stop us?

He asks us if we drink or have been drinking and I say no. He then tells us that the police cruiser that passed had concerns about us and that's why the told him to go check the situation... (So why didn't the cruiser question us?) 'Cause this is his hang out place. I told him that we were law abiding residents and visitors and were appreciating the beauty of the place but we promise not to come here again and rather go to Duba-side of Mamzar. (I even told him, that as he'd been drinking perhaps we should look at matters differently, to which he admitted wholeheartedly) He invited us to join him on the weekend and we can all hang out together. I was offended as his insinuation was felt by both me & my friend. He then had a mood flip and said he was going to call the cruiser, I kept asking about what went wrong? he went to his car (which had two of his drinking buddies) and they talked a bit then he said ok you can leave.

We left.

As we hit the main road, we noticed him tailing us and flashing his headlights. We stopped, he said he has to take us in as the station called him (as he was urinating - his words were more crass) and though he told them we left they asked him to follow us.. So now he has to take us in.I pleaded with him to tell them to tell them that he couldn't catch up with us as we went far he said indignantly no way My Mercedes can't catch up with this Japanese thing!... he took our documents again (and convened with his friends) and then he said: I spoke to the station and told them that you had to leave 'cause you have the night shift at your job. Call me tomorrow so that we'll see what happens.(...all I could think of was the station and what they would do to me as a girl...)

We drove of in silence anxiously heading for the Dubai border as if we were refugees escaping from one country to another which was a safe haven. My friend was livid. He was extremely offended as a guy because of how obvious it was that the guy wanted to hit it of with me and he actually said "I feel like a pimp, I have been totally humiliated and could do nothing to protect you... What kind of friend am I?" I told him he couldn't do much and it's not his fault, he said this reminded him of how his country was as a police state where an official would take advantage of his status.

I disagreed with the comparison as I do love and respect The UAE and have never felt uncomfortable in any of the emirates, I told him that other places were different, that its only Sharjah, and for him, as a visitor, it would be hard not to let that picture tarnish his image of the UAE. I told him, one bad apple... really they're all not like this guy, 90% of my friends are emirati and my colleagues, I've been here for the longest time... but really, can I blame him?

I was hurt, I was hurt because this guy used his Blue ID to hassle people and give the wrong impression of his department, I was hurt because he had no respect for the ID by showing it to us knowing full well that he was drunk. I was hurt because we do so much to try and put our best face forth and someone like him puts a crack in it. I was hurt because though I was in no uncompromising position, I felt shamed by his insinuations and felt that somehow what I did must have been wrong.

I was hurt."

Luckily the guy gave them back their documents the next day, he even called the guy and asked him when were they coming again so that they could have drinks on the beach together!I am hurt as I respect the Police force in this country.

I am hurt to hear of such an ordeal experienced by anyone who loves the UAE.

I am also very dismayed. Luckily we know the existence of the majority of good people on the force, to them I say: I salut you and thank God for your existence. This was obviously a drunk bored officer looking for some late night fun and to entertain his buddies.