Enhancing public safety:

The act of volunteering is valuable for both society and individuals - enhancing resources, building capability, improving wellbeing and strengthening social connections. Beyond its altruistic benefits - such as a heightened sense of purpose for volunteers and sparking community spirit - volunteering also delivers significant economic value, contributing to social resilience, future-focussed skills and long-term sustainability.

Across the Middle East, national visions highlight the importance of volunteerism in building a prosperous, healthy, and cohesive society. Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, for example, included a target of one million volunteers annually, underscoring the critical role of volunteering in achieving national development goals. Other GCC nations have also launched various volunteering initiatives at national and local levels to support their strategic pillars, such the UAE’s Takatof programme, Qatar’s Red Crescent Volunteering Programme, LOYAC in Kuwait and Injaz in Oman and Bharain, which aim to foster social responsibility and reinforce the spirit of volunteerism.

In the region, volunteering has long formed the basis of social policing and safety. In pre-modern Arab cities, night watchmen (al-ʿassās) would voluntarily patrol neighbourhoods. These men, from the local community, took turns safeguarding their towns, mainly to prevent theft and enforce curfews. Though informal, their role was crucial for maintaining public safety and order. This tradition of voluntary guards was common across many parts of the Islamic world, especially in urban centres like Baghdad, Cairo, and Damascus. 
 
The role that volunteers today play in supporting national police forces in crime prevention and community engagement is growing - expanding operational capacities and bolstering police capabilities with specialist and emerging skills as society and the nature of crime evolves at pace. Police services worldwide now rely on auxiliary forces as a cost-effective way to supplement operational policing, with an estimated 30 million hours contributed annually by uniformed volunteers, equivalent to over US$1bn in added policing capacity. This leads to tangible results – in Tokyo, for example, the mobilisation of nearly 5,000 volunteers across one community contributed to a 63% reduction in crime, and a fivefold increase in citizens’ feeling of safety.

While there are police volunteering initiatives on offer across the Middle East, global best-practice case studies create a compelling case for more formally integrating volunteering into national police strategies. Professionalising its management will increase its impact, better harnessing the collective strength, skills and expertise of individuals to support the delivery of strategic objectives, and keep societies resilient in the face of future threats.

Drawing on global best practices and academic research, PwC Middle East in partnership with the University of Northampton is advocating a four-pillar approach – consisting of rationale, experience, arrangement and performance - to assess, activate and measure the impact of integrating skilled volunteer efforts into police strategy. 

The REAP framework offers a structured approach to developing and managing effective volunteer programmes. It enables police organisations to align volunteer contributions with strategic objectives, optimise the impact of volunteerism and enhance overall organisational performance. By leveraging this framework, police services can unlock the full potential of volunteer initiatives, strengthen public safety and support the broader transformation of our region.