Photo : Collected
A storm of protest and condemnation arose when the police mercilessly fired on the chests of the people of the country to suppress the anti-quota discrimination student movement. In other cases, too, the role of the police has been widely questioned. It is gradually becoming clear that the recently resigned government was responsible for the state of the force. A leading bangla newspaper recently revealed that there was unprecedented corruption in the promotion of the police during the tenure of the resigned government. In 1997, 171 officers joined the service but for promotion they showed their date of joining six years back i.e. in 1991. In this way, with the help of the upper echelon, through fraud, they promoted 750 senior officers to the post of police inspector. Later many of them got promoted and became Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP). 2 thousand 250 officials have been deprived in various ways as a result of such promotion due to political considerations.
It is needless to say that the process of promotion of 171 people has been done through abuse of power and corruption. Hopefully, reform work has already started in the police force. There has been a major reshuffle at all levels, including the top of the force. As this editorial is being written, three senior police officers have been sent on compulsory retirement. In a separate notification issued by the Home Ministry's Public Security Wing, 12 Deputy Inspector Generals (DIGs) and 11 Superintendents of Police (SPs) have been reshuffled. It is being said that those who have been deprived of posts due to political considerations are being promoted and appointed to top positions. It is clear that this process will continue. The thing is, not only the reshuffle, but how honest and people-friendly those who are coming in charge can prove themselves in the performance of their duties, it is important.
They have to take the initiative to overcome the image crisis that the police force has suffered due to the indiscriminate firing and killing of students during the anti-discrimination movement. In addition to increasing the morale of the forces, to restore confidence among the people, not only the change of clothes and logos, but also the manifestation of a people-friendly approach. There is also a need to amend existing laws.
It has become necessary to provide for an apolitical and impartial system of appointment, posting, reward and punishment of senior officers including the Chief of Police. If necessary, the police can also be given the opportunity to work in an operationally autonomous manner by setting up independent commissions to free them from government influence. Again, it is not only necessary to give freedom, so that there is no abuse of power, transparency and accountability also need to be strictly enforced. All in all, more emphasis should be placed on changing the attitude that "police is not the people's but the government's force".
Let's not forget, the change in logo and uniform has no direct relation to police performance, it lies in integrity and law enforcement activities. As a result, operational autonomy is necessary to free the police from undue executive control. It must be ensured that in the work under the purview of the police, ignoring the wrongful request of any quarter does not lead to punitive transfer or posting. It is expected that the police force will become the protector of the people and not as a tool of some quarters, but in the true sense of the people.
Messenger/Fameema
