President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has stated that more effort is needed to build a better relationship between the public and the police.

While delivering his presidential address at the parliament's first sitting of the year, the president stated that the main responsibility of the country's Defense Force is to fulfill their constitutional duty to protect national sovereignty, maintain peace and ensure the safety of the people. The president went onto highlight that the Police Service Bill was presented to the parliament last year, adding that neighborhood police services will be introduced to more atolls in the future.

The president stated that more effort is required to build the public’s trust in the country's police force.

As such, the president noted that essential changes have been brought to the administrative framework of our National Defense Force as a safeguard against abuse of power and political influence.

Additionally, he spoke regarding the issue of prison overcrowding which is exacerbated by the lack of an effective rehabilitation system. Nevertheless, the president revealed that construction of a new prison will begin this year to solve this issue.

The president also acknowledged the improper living standard at Maldives prisons, recognizing that detainees are unable to exercise due to space constraints in their cells. As such, the president noted that a new yard was recently built on prison grounds and family visitation hours for detainees have been increased to 2 hours while conjugal visits have been extended to 24 hours.