Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last week fulfilled some of the pledges she made to the country's police force last year. The number of grade-1 posts (of secretary level) in the police department was upgraded to five from two. Police inspectors have been promoted as first class officers and the sub-inspectors as second class officers. The Prime Minister also disclosed a number of incentives to be given to the police force at a function marking the Police Week, 2012.
However, insiders in the police department say most of the pledges the Prime Minister made to the police force still remain unfulfilled. Some of these pledges were solving the vehicle and housing problem, introducing special allowance for Special Branch (SB) and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and opening several wings like tourist police, marine police, and security and protection battalion etc.
Since assuming office in 2009, the AL-led grand alliance government did take a number of steps to strengthen the police department by introducing more wings and procuring arms and some logistics, but those were far from actual requirements. The whole police department has only 6,000 vehicles -- half of which are motorbikes -- against a requirement of 20,000. Of the vehicles in hand, the incumbent government bought around 650 double cabin pickups and motorbikes over the last three years.
No initiative was taken so far to free the police from political influence. According to reports in the media, some top police officials appeared frustrated as the much-talked-about Bangladesh Police Ordinance, drafted in 2007, is yet to be implemented by the government. The ordinance in question appears to be caught in the home ministry red-tape. Due to absence of proper policy guidelines, the entire department remains a bit directionless. And that is why, the implementation of the draft Police Ordinance is deemed essential.
However, reforming police force requires a decision from the high-ups in the policy-making bodies. The ministry of home affairs is unable to advance even an inch without the green signal from the government. The draft ordinance sought to create an independent National Police Commission to recommend appointment of the police chief and posting of other high-ranking officials. It also has a provision for an independent Police Complaint Commission to check crimes within the force.
Usually, transfers and appointments in the force largely depend, allegedly, on graft and lobbying with the ruling political parties. For obvious reasons, police officers generally prefer remaining loyal to ruling party leaders following the standard rules of the game of their department. The draft ordinance sought to stop this practice. The ordinance says: "Direct or indirect influence in police investigation, law enforcement operation, recruitment, promotion, transfer, posting or any other function in an unlawful manner shall be a criminal offence."
Reports say a sub-inspector (SI) or an Inspector willing to take posting in an attractive destination needs to pay a high amount of money as bribe. A good number of job aspirants prefer police service for making easy speed money. Even for lodging a simple diary or first hand report (FIR) with the police station, speed money, as the allegations run, is very often required. The members of the police force are also allegedly involved in anti-social and criminal activities across the country. Releasing a notorious criminal from custody in exchange of bribe is a common affair. According to a study conducted by an international agency, Bangladesh police was seen as the most corrupt among all countries in South Asian region. This is very unfortunate for the law-enforcing agency of a poor country like Bangladesh.
Former state minister for home affairs and ruling party lawmaker Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj had reportedly resigned for failing to implement an initiative to reform the police force. He termed the incident as unfortunate. His sudden resignation as state minister for home last year created curiosity in political circles. In an interview with BBC on his return home from the USA recently, Sohel Taj said: "We pledged to make country corruption-free and reform the police. Police force is the main weapon to build a corruption-free country. We made commitment to reform police and make it a professional force free from corruption. But I could not do that and it pains me." Sohel Taj's observations point fingers to the urgency of police reform.
During hartals and siege programmes, police force is called to guard against acts of violence, loot, arson etc. Sometimes, police force acts violently to quell opposition demonstrations. For maintaining peace and security, such actions may be needed, but the point is -- they should not go beyond the dotted line. In fact, police excesses sometime cause embarrassment for the government itself.
Since members of the police and other security agencies are employees of the state and not of the party in power, successive governments used this force as their own weapons. This is an issue that the country's highest level of administration should take up for further review as the trend still continues. Unfortunately, some incidents on the political front cast serious doubt about police's non-partisan attitude. And this goes against the very basic principle of democratic government, embedded in proper functioning of institutional bodies.
In fact, restoration of people's confidence in police is the moot issue about the need for its reform. Proper training and change of mindset are pre-requisites for bringing about reform in the embattled police department. Deep-seated reforms of police department are needed to keep its personnel free from political influence-peddling and corruption. A force, full of renewed vigour and energy, will certainly help ensure peace and security of life and property to the citizens.
Source: thefinancialexpress-bd.com
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