Restoring people’s faith in the goodness of the police force is a worthy goal.
However, in order for ordinary citizens to trust our law enforcement officials, the police need to give us credible assurances that we can trust them.
On the occasion of Police Week 2019, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that no innocent person should fall victim to torture or harassment at the hands of the police.
We fully agree with the PM, indeed, few things are as abhorrent as an innocent person languishing in custody without due process, or law-abiding citizens being mistreated at the hands of those meant to protect them.
It is important, though, to go even beyond simply condemning the abuse of innocent citizens -- it must be made clear that police do not have free rein to dole out punishment however they see fit.
Simply put, due process must be respected at all times, and harassment of citizens, regardless of the situation, is never OK.
The sad reality of our country is that stories of unexplained disappearances, custodial abuse, and general corruption and abuse of power in the hands of the police have made people sceptical about law enforcement, and distrustful of their ability to do the right thing.
Police should work for the people, and not for themselves, which means the culture of bribery must come to an end.
Furthermore, many women are still afraid to come forward and report rape and sexual violence, and that is because they are often subjected to harassment all over again when they do go to the police.
Indeed, we want people’s faith in the police force restored, but before that can happen, the mammoth task of widespread police reform lies ahead of us.
