Bernard Rix meets former UK chief police officer Professor Jackie Sebire and gets an introduction to her current leadership role at Rabdan Academy in Abu Dhabi.

Rabdan Academy in the United Arab Emirates is a world leading university, delivering academic and vocational learning and training across the safety and security sectors. Within this scope of operation, the Academy provides all education, training and related support for Abu Dhabi Police recruits and officers.

In this video – part one of a three part series for PolicingTV – Professor Jackie Sebire first introduces PolicingTV Founder Bernard Rix to the Academy. She explains the fascinating background behind Rabdan Academy’s name and talks us through some of the policing related activities of the Academy, before describing some of the key highlights and associated learning from her thirty year policing career to date.

Prior to her move to Rabdan Academy where she leads their policing-related work, Professor Sebire enjoyed a thirty year operational policing career in the United Kingdom. There – amongst other career highlights – she rose to the highest ranks, including leadership roles at the Metropolitan and Bedfordshire forces, plus work alongside two current and former Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police.

Her particular areas of interest and expertise are domestic abuse, risk assessment, leadership and crisis management. She has a Doctorate from the University of Leicester, and is a published academic author.

“What is Rabdan? It is such a charming story…”

“It’s such a vibrant place of innovation, of study, really focused on making sure that the students that come through here have got [access to] the best possible global practice, they can network with each other, we do research – and it’s such an international place as well”. “It’s such an extraordinary privilege – having done thirty years of policing in the UK – to be transplanted in to this extraordinary Academy.”

“For the last two years, I’ve met some extraordinary undergraduate females with huge ambition…

“One of the perspectives that’s really interested me, and where a lot of my passion comes out, is how can we as longer service women, who have been through our own battles to establish ourselves within policing, how can we support women that are going to go through exactly the same battles”. “Rabdan Academy, and Abu Dhabi Police, are really investing in all students, but particularly in women and offering them opportunities to develop themselves.”

“The vocational setting here at Rabdan works with private industry as well, so it’s a real multi-agency, inter-operable model here. It works really well.”

“[Within the Rabdan office] I’m next to a Mexican Police Captain, a South Korean Detective, an intelligence analyst from Poland, and an interpreter from Sudan…”

“Rabdan is such an attractive place to work – it brings the best from all over the world”.

“People thinking about Rabdan Academy should really take this as an institute that is serious about educating people. it’s brought the best and is bringing the best in, it’s got a research wing that is accredited and is producing some really cutting edge technological research, it has a training wing and a vocational wing – it’s a really serious organisation that wants to make a difference to the UAE but also wants to have a place globally in terms of police research, and excellence in police teaching.”

“One of the things that we hope to do is to showcase at the World Police Summit in Dubai, which I know you [Bernard] have a really interesting [role in]. Rabdan Academy is really committed to, and supporting, that event… showcasing what we do.”