He was 15 when he joined Dubai Police. Only seven men had registered before him. In those early days, his police attire was a kandura, ghutra and agal, with a red belt around his waist. His equipment included a baton a modest beginning for a career that would span five decades.
Major General Khalifa bin Dhaen Al Mheiri, whose death Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum mourned in an official post on October 22, belonged to the generation that helped build the force from its earliest years.
The Dubai Ruler remembered him as a loyal national figure and a dedicated police leader who devoted five decades of continuous service to the Al Maktoum family and citizens.
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Sheikh Mohammed’s tribute captured the significance of that service: “Dubai does not forget its men.”
For Al Mheiri, the story began long before senior rank or responsibility for a police station. In a June 2006 interview with Al Bayan, he recalled a childhood ambition to become a soldier or policeman. Work opportunities were limited, largely to traditional trades and commerce, but he wanted a different path.
He first sought work with the British military while still a boy. Turned away because he was too young, he tried again and was accepted the following year for light duties in the Al Nakheel area of Al Ain. When he heard that Dubai had established a police force in 1956, he seized the opportunity to join.
Policing a different Dubai
The city he described was one where people commonly took disputes to tribal sheikhs and elders. A formal police force was unfamiliar to some communities, and winning their acceptance took time.
Much of the early work involved guarding markets and the government house, with Naif serving as the main police headquarters and an outpost operating in Bur Dubai.
Dubai Police’s own history records that the force began operations at Naif Fort with just 29 officers. It later moved its headquarters to Al Twar in 1973.
One incident he recounted began at about 2am, when he became suspicious of two men carrying bags near a watch shop belonging to businessman Ahmed Seddiqi in Bur Dubai’s Al Bunyan market.
The men fled, and he pursued them into an abandoned house. According to his recollection, the encounter led to the recovery of two bags containing 400 stolen watches, but left him with a knife wound to his arm. Without a firearm, he had defended himself with a piece of wood and his baton.
He then followed footprints to a house, and the suspects were arrested that same night, he said. His colleagues rebuked him for putting himself in danger.
Al Mheiri recalled that his response was rooted in a conviction that protecting the community was both a policeman’s duty and an honour, even when it involved personal risk.
Beyond the uniform
By the time of the 2006 interview, Al Mheiri was a brigadier and director of Nad Al Sheba Police Station. Dubai Police highlighted his leadership of that station among the achievements of a career that began in the force’s founding year.
His contribution also extended into education. Jumeira University’s official biography identifies him as its founder and says the Dubai institution was established in 2012.
The university attributes the vision behind the project to his concern for preserving his community’s cultural identity.
The same biography describes him as a police pioneer whose long service earned him the affectionate description 'The Father' among officers and dignitaries the institution’s account of the regard in which he was held.
A teenager’s ambition, decades of service and a commitment that extended beyond his uniform. In his tribute, Sheikh Mohammed addressed him as Abu Mohammed, praying for mercy for him and patience and solace for his family and loved ones.