The purpose of this research is to discuss the Saudi-Arabian police force. The focus will be on types of crimes dealt with, recruitment, training, community relations, make-up of the police force, and the role of women. The law and the criminal justice system will also be considered since they have a profound effect on the role of the police force.
Islamic law comes directly from the Koran, the sacred scriptures of Mohammed's religion and the religion of the Moslems. The Koran contains the religious, social, civil, military, commercial and legal code of the Mohammeds. Punishments and rewards are illustrated by vivid stories. The Koran contains Mohammed's specific injunctions to his followers which govern most of their social and legal life; it serves as the basis for all legislation, and for the enforcement of such legislation.
Some of the more widely known beliefs of Islamic law are an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; cutting off the hands of a thief, polygamy, etc. Islamic penal law comes directly from these specific beliefs set down by Mohammed. In Islamic tradition, God reveals his law (rather than his nature of self). No difference is made between the sacred and secular aspects of society. Islam is more than a religion: it is a way of life -- social and political as well as religious.
The social, political and cultural makeup of Saudi Arabia affect the attitudes toward crime and punishment. Saudi Arabia is a homogeneous, traditional society -- tribal, feudal and theocratic. The country is administered by the 2,000 Princes of the Saudi clan.
The Saudi rulers are staunch Wahhabis, "a sect within Islam roughly akin to the Puritans."
Because of the rich, large resources of Saudi Arabian oil, the country is developing for a desert with nomadic ways to a modern state with cities, technology, nearly two million foreign workers and new building, all of which have led to a need for internal security d...