Worldwide, the term police defines “a civil force of a state, responsible for the prevention and detection of crime, and the maintenance of public order.” However, if you ask a common man of Bangladesh to define the term police, it will most likely be – “a brutal force rife with misconducts and allegations of corruption smeared throughout the whole structure.” That is the general outlook and exceptions do apply, however, the bad always weighs out the good experiences.
In order to evaluate what contributes to such a dire state of the force, the history of Police in Bangladesh needs to be considered. The British government in 1861, through enacting the Police Act, created the systematic force in the subcontinent. It was solely to use the force as a tool to further their own narrow interest. After almost 153 years, the concept has barely changed. The Police Force is still being used by the relevant authorities as a coercion of their political agendas.
Moreover, the Bangladesh Police follows a hierarchy system during their recruitment process whereby a constable enters through the grass-root level entry and the assistant superintendent of police (ASP) enters through the highest level entry. This is in contrast to the Police in Britain, where the force has a singular level of entry: as a constable. Therefore, in Bangladesh, an individual who starts his/her career as a constable might just expect to be promoted up to a sub-inspector throughout the life of his/her career, but in Britain, an individual who starts as a constable could end up being the chief of the police force by the time they retire.
Thus being in the Bangladesh Police, especially as a constable, automatically means abysmal salaries, long hours, deplorable working conditions, and above all unrewarded services. These factors do nothing to curb corruption and improve the overall service of the police force for the common people.
It should be noted that over 90% of the police force consists of constables. The government agents also fail to grasp the concept of reform in order to eliminate the fundamental flaws within the force.
This is coupled with the use of outdated laws and practices – according to section 2 of the 1861 Act, any appointments on responsible positions are determined by the government. This enables politicisation of the police force and seriously undermines merit as the basis of recruitment.
In 2007, the then caretaker government attempted a reform of the force through the draft Police Ordinance 2007. The draft suggested very succinct and appropriate changes which could assist the police force in being rid of undue political interference – formulating it as a punishable offence, improving the efficiency level in service, and be accountable to the common people instead.
However, the draft ordinance, to date, has failed to take the shape of a concrete law. One ray of hope is in the DFID and EU sponsored Police Reform Programme (PRP). It is a long term capacity-building initiative to support the transition from colonial style police force to a more democratic policing, thereby improving human security in Bangladesh. PRP seeks to provide supports in the following areas:
Operational, organisational and legal reforms Building training capacity Improving the quality of investigators Operations and prosecutions; consolidation of community policing and crime prevention Making policing more pro-women, and Introducing cost effective and realistic information community technology.As of now, the programme has established Bangladesh’s first victim support centre in Dhaka; Bangladesh’s first police women’s network; and up to 20,000 community policing forums all over the country.
However, it should be remembered that this programme is a more of a donor priority than a national one. A national solution to counteract problems within the force would have a stronger impact in abolishing human rights abuses, corruption, vigilantism and extremism.
Therefore, the force could use a tool equipping them to perform efficiently in a democratic society by increasing police accountability and operational neutrality. This can only come in effect of a new law similar to the Police Ordinance 2007.
The government also needs to allocate more funds for improved welfare and facilities of a police career than what is of today to make it more alluring. Lastly, the relevant authorities will do well to realise that a high morale of the police force and a concrete rule of law will in turn ensure the security of their constituents and the government itself.
