Sharjah police overhauls risk management

The challenge

Sharjah’s police force needed to overhaul risk management in its finance department, reviewing all operations and procedures in line with new governance criteria. The finance department had no clear sight of key risks or mitigation procedures.

The solution

The process began by identifying institutional risk in each division and drawing up mitigation plans and procedures for when key risks are triggered. In all, Sharjah’s finance department identified 23 risks associated with its operations and procedures. In each case it highlighted a range of solutions and the likelihood of the risk occurring.

For example, the department put in supplier mitigation risk, highlighting and preparing for a lack of suppliers for particular goods and services which proved particularly important during Covid.

Best practice and innovation

Sharjah police has become the first Emirate to overhaul its risk management processes. The process required employee engagement and skills building around updating records. The finance department ran two workshops to build employee skills in this area. Risks are highlighted using Excel spreadsheets across the department’s administrative processes, as well as health risk and environmental risks in a process that has transformed risk awareness throughout the department.

In a reflection of how seriously Sharjah police perceive risk and the depth of its risk mitigation strategy, it was the first UAE police force to implement Risk Management Specification ISO 31000:2018, a risk management standard or template that supports organisations’ integration of risk-based decision making focusing on governance, planning, management, reporting, policies, values and culture.

Key benefits

• Cost savings.
• Process efficiencies.
• Risk mitigation.