Religious police
Nearly all religious police organizations in modern society are Islamic and can be found in countries with a large Muslim populace, such as Saudi Arabia or Iran.
For example, the Islamic religious police prioritize the prevention of alcohol consumption, playing of music, public displays of affection, Western holidays, and prayer time absences.
These actions are particularly common in the Middle East and North Africa, where roughly one-third of countries (35%) have police enforcing religious norms.
In the early 20th century, Ibn Sa’ud appointed his followers as muhtasibs and very strictly enforced the rules, which caused a conflict between foreign pilgrim and the local population.
However, if an extreme religious group poses a threat to public safety, the responsibility often lies on a more formal intelligence agency instead of a local task force.
[11] In 2006 the Karzai regime submitted draft legislation to create a new department, under the Ministry for Haj and Religious Affairs, devoted to the "Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice".
[12] Indonesia After the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, people believed that it was a punishment from God, which caused the governor, Mustafa Abubakar,[3] to officially launch the Polisi Syariat Islam.
In September, the local legislature passed a new bylaw, or qanun jinayat, imposing harsher penalties on a longer list of “crimes”.
The new bylaw is a watered-down version of a controversial law passed by Aceh's legislature in 2009, which mandated stoning to death as a punishment for adultery.
After the resulting international outrage, the stoning provision was dropped from the new bylaw, which now awaits approval by Indonesia's Minister of Home Affairs.
In the meantime, human rights groups are calling for an end to caning, a practise they say violates not only the Indonesian constitution, but also a raft of international treaties signed by Indonesia.
They also have control over the recently introduced “re-education centers.” The centers act like detention facilities, where women—and sometimes men—are taken into custody for failing to comply with the state's rules on modesty.
Inside the facilities, detainees are given classes about Islam and the importance of the hijab (or headscarf), and then forced to sign a pledge to abide by the state's clothing regulations before they are released.
The revival of Iran's ‘’morality police’’, Gasht-e-Irshad, has faced opposition as demonstrators persist in challenging the mandatory hijab law.
While the general police are tasked with investigating criminal matters and providing national security, the Mutaween specialize in enforcing the strict religious customs of Sharia law.
With a population of over 27 million people, the second-largest nation in the Middle East sits in a unique religious position as the home of the holy city of Mecca.
The Mutaween enforce segregation of the sexes, the prohibition of alcohol, men attending prayer, suppression of non-Muslim displays or rituals, and the modesty of women (Al-Juwair, 2008; Sharif, 2014).
While on patrol, the duties of the Mutaween include, but are not restricted to: ensuring that drugs including alcohol are not being traded;[40] checking that women wear the abaya, a traditional cloak;[citation needed] making sure that men and women who are spotted together in public are related;[40] formerly, enforcing the ban on camera phones; and preventing the population from engaging in "frivolous"[42] Western customs and holidays.
[7] However, former Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad defended the formation of JAKIM by citing it was aimed at bringing the government in line with Islamic teachings.
[32] Committee officers and volunteers patrolled public places, with volunteers focusing on enforcing strict rules of hijab (which in Saudi Arabia meant covering all of the body except the hands and eyes), segregation between the sexes, and daily prayer attendance;[4] but also banning Western products/activities such as the sale of dogs and cats,[34] Barbie dolls,[35] Pokémon,[36] and Valentine's Day gifts.
[3] Officers were authorized to pursue, detain and interrogate suspected violators, flog offenders for certain misdeeds,[37][38] and arrest priests for saying Mass in private ceremonies.
[13] In 2016 the power of the CPVPV was drastically reduced by Mohammed bin Salman,[42][43] and it was banned "from pursuing, questioning, asking for identification, arresting and detaining anyone suspected of a crime".
The Community Service Police is in charge of enforcing regulations on certain personal behaviors, including indecent clothing, alcohol consumption, offensive acts and seduction, among others.
In December 2019, it repealed a public order law that granted police the power to arrest women "who were found dancing, wearing trousers, vending on the streets or mixing with men who weren’t their relatives", who might then be punished by "flogging, fines and, in rare cases, stoning and execution".
