Sunday 28 / December / 2025
Muscat: Additional personnel from the Royal Oman Police (ROP) have been sent to North Al Batinah to assist with the ongoing cleanup, relief and reconstruction efforts in the wake of cyclone Shaheen.
With the wilayats of Khabourah and Suwaiq among the most badly affected by the cyclone, additional police teams were sent from Rustaq in South Al Batinah to help their comrades in the north.
The involvement of the ROP is part of the support lent to the relief and shelter sector of the National Committee for Emergency Management (NCEM). According to the Oman News Agency (ONA), the police reinforcements will help remove debris from public places, and the homes of people affected in both wilayats. More personnel were sent from other parts of the country as well.
“The Royal Oman Police is supporting the relief and shelter sector and the municipalities’ efforts with personnel from the special task units, the Sultan Qaboos Academy for Police Sciences, and other divisions, to assist in clearing and cleaning public places,” said the NCEM in a statement.
“This will continue for several days, according to a specific action plan prepared in advance with the Subcommittee for Emergency Situations Management, and the General Directorate of Municipalities in North Al Batinah,” added the government body.
The assistance plans were drawn up “with the aim of coordinating efforts and ensuring continuity of the recovery from the effects of the weather conditions,” added the committee.
Police officers on the streets are working in tandem with others assigned to the task, including military personnel, government employees, and hundreds of volunteers who have selflessly chosen to assist their countrymen during their time of need.
Among them is Ali Al Habsi from Mudhaibi in the Sharqiyah regions. “There are about 350 of us working here, and we brought supplies in about 10 to 15 cars,” he said, in an interview with Oman TV. “We divided ourselves into two teams: distribution and cleanup.”
Another volunteer, Moath Al Zaabi, began work at 7 am so that public places and homes could be cleaned up sooner. “We headed to those areas affected by cyclone Shaheen, with the ROP overseeing traffic so we could travel easily to the mosques, homes and roads that needed cleaning,” he said.
Major Masoud bin Said Al Mughairi of Al Khabourah Police Station said Oman was blessed to see so many people from various segments of society come forward to help. “Traffic was organised in such a way that our volunteers could be directed to places that required their support,” he told Oman TV.
Meanwhile, a new batch of citizens joined the ROP’s training and recruitment programme on Sunday, 10 October, 2021. Among them are general education diploma holders, as well as post-general diploma graduates with specialisation in mechanics, chemistry, accounting, human resources, finance, information technology, and electrical and electronic engineering.
The ONA reported that these recruits were drafted after completing the required medical tests, entrance exams, and interviews that form the selection process. The ROP’s recruitment efforts are run in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour, which screens Omani citizens with a general education diploma to evaluate whether they are eligible to join the police.
They are then assessed, according to plans drawn up by ROP Command to recruit more officers, in keeping with the needs of police work, and the expansion and development of the country’s police forces.
