UAE collaborates with Facebook to find missing children

A smart alert system that can help find missing children is among the latest smart services implemented by the Ministry of Interior (MoI) in their effort to digitalise services.

A smart alert system that can help find missing children is among the latest smart services implemented by the Ministry of Interior (MoI) in their effort to digitalise services.

In its latest initiatives implemented in November, the MoI had teamed up with Facebook to launch the NiDAA Smart Alert system; a first-of-its-kind in the region. The first phase of the launch included the activation of the NiDAA Smart Alert, which aims at finding children officially declared missing, in a bid to reinforce child protection efforts. The ministry plans to further develop and upgrade this feature to include other smart notifications in different areas, as part of a smart system that uses emerging advanced technologies.

The smart system allows Facebook users to be notified of missing children on top of their news feeds. After receiving notification from the Child Protection Centre about a child gone missing in a specific area, the ministry will issue an alert to Facebook users in the area with the necessary information that the public would need to help find this child.

In another initiative, the MoI introduced an integrated platform that provides criminal record certificates in a smart customer platform based on blockchain technology. It is also provided to government agencies wishing to benefit from this technology and data.

Blockchain technology is one of the most important innovations of the 21st century and the most important technological solutions associated with the fourth industrial revolution. In 2018, the ministry launched a e-police service called the ‘Police Station Mode’ for smart phone users to communicate with the police and process transactions related to police stations across the UAE.

The service allows customers to access a set of smart services, complete their transactions and submit their applications to police stations through the smart application, wherever they may be, regardless of their location. People can also use the service to report crimes and different kinds of complaints through their mobile phones.