RIYADH: The appointment of a moderate to head the feared Saudi religious police has raised hopes that a more lenient force will ease draconian social constraints in the kingdom, but human rights activists remain skeptical.

Less than two weeks into his post as chief of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Sheikh Abdul-Latif Abdul-Aziz al-Sheikh banned volunteers from serving in the commission, a move designed to curb the group’s most outrageous violations.

The volunteers, usually ultra-conservative and fundamentalist Muslims, have often been accused of abuse and violence against Saudis as they patrol the streets of the kingdom enforcing the strictest interpretations of Islam’s social traditions.

“Even the sight of a religious police car approaching fills us with feelings of fear and horror,” said Um Ibrahim, a Saudi mother, adding that since Sheikh’s appointment, “we are already seeing fewer patrols.”

“We are very hopeful,” she said, noting that even the number of messages posted by fellow citizens on social networks like Twitter warning of abuses by the police have “almost disappeared” since Sheikh’s appointment by King Abdullah on Jan. 13.

Sheikh, a member of the kingdom’s most powerful religious family, has a reputation for holding moderate views on segregation.

In 2010, he backed a religious police official from the Saudi city of Mecca who said Islam does not categorically require segregation and that shops could remain open during prayer time.

The religious police prevent women from driving; require them to shroud their hair and bodies in all-black, shapeless abayas; block public entertainment; and force all commerce, from supermarkets to gas stations, to come to a halt at prayer times, five times a day.

They have also been responsible for outrageous abuses and behavior. In 2002, they reportedly prevented firemen from entering an all-girls school because of the segregation-of-sexes policy and blocked girls from escaping the fire because they were not wearing the obligatory veil.

Fourteen girls were trampled to death and 50 others were injured in a stampede after the fire broke out.

Since his appointment, Sheikh has also announced his intention to establish a nationwide call center where all reported complaints regarding inappropriate social behavior can be verified.

In the past, anonymous callers could randomly contact members of the religious police and make allegations of misbehavior, a system that resulted in repeated false allegations and excessive responses by individual police officers.

Easily recognized by their long beards and white “dishdash” that fall to just above the ankle, the Saudi religious force, known as the “Mutaween,” are often seen patrolling shopping malls and public spaces looking for violators of Islam’s rules for social engagement.

Even a simple exchange of words with a member of the opposite sex could result in arrest.

In early January, a video circulated on YouTube showed a mother and father defending their son who was being harassed by police because his hair was too long.

Bariaa al-Zubaidi, a Saudi human rights activist, said the decision by Sheikh to ban volunteers from the force was a step in the right direction, but cautioned that the change in leadership amounted to “changing the face” of the organization, and not “the mentality behind it.”

“We don’t feel safe” with the religious police on the prowl, said Zubaidi. “There are many terrible stories ... their behavior has been an insult to our dignity, to our religion and to our country,” he said.

As far as the police are concerned, “everyone is guilty until proven innocent,” Zubaidi added, noting that more serious measures must be taken to bring real change, including the creation of an entity that can prosecute and punish violators.

Saudi activist Mohammad al-Qahtani, president of the Saudi Civil Right’s Organization, described Sheikh’s appointment as a “cosmetic” change to the commission, arguing that the new chief can only “enforce policies decided by top officials.”

In the past year, Saudi newspapers have reported heavily on the abuses by the police and are showing greater willingness to criticize the force’s actions.

In one such case, Saudi dailies embarrassed the force by reporting the arrest of a young Saudi who kissed his 70-year-old mother’s hand after he was released from hospital. They also reported the arrest of a young woman who was accused of inappropriate contact with a man. She was being escorted by her uncle to a job interview.