e_Paper, Sunday, August 13, 2017

2
SUNDAY, AUGUST 13, 2017
DT
News
Unruly officials still a problem
for the police
• Arifur Rahman Rabbi
SPECIAL
Inspector Moinul Islam, who is now
attached to Chittagong Metropolitan
Police (CMP) Lines, was closed
after he was accused of getting
drunk and physically assaulting a
sub-inspector of Double Mooring
police station and five employees of
the Hotel Saint Martin in the city’s
Agrabad area on July 4. Following
the incident, CMP formed a committee
to investigate the matter.
CMP Commissioner Iqbal Bahar
says several allegations brought
against Inspector Moinul were
found true and he would advise the
Police Headquarters to take action
against him.
“The probe report will be sent to
the headquarters and an additional
inspector general of police will further
investigate the incident,” he
told the Dhaka Tribune.
Meanwhile, officials of Khalishpur
police station in Khulna are
accused of gouging out the eyes of
a detainee for not paying a bribe.
The detainee, Shahjalal, is currently
undergoing treatment at Dhaka
Medical College Hospital. The station
refutes the allegation, saying
that a mob in Khulna city did this
to the man when he was caught hijacking.
OC Nasim Khan says police
merely arrived in time and rescued
the man.
“Ten minutes late and we would
have found him dead,” he says.
Thousands of allegations of
crime and indiscipline are filed
against police personnel every
year, both in the courts and within
the department.
A scrutiny of the numbers provided
by Police Headquarters
shows that the conviction rate in
criminal cases against police are
low, however a large number of
departmental actions are taken
against errant police officials.
Police authorities say they investigate
and punish wrongdoing
within the force diligently and this
has increased accountability in the
force. However, the numbers do
not show any significant decline.
According to the Police Headquarters,
721 criminal cases were
filed against 798 police members
in the last five years. The number
of cases has remained almost the
same in these five years. In 2016,
128 cases were filed and in 2012, it
was 129.
A majority of the cases are filed
against police officials of ranks between
constable and sub-inspector.
Police authorities say they investigate and punish wrongdoing within the force diligently, but the numbers do not show any
significant decline in police crimes
MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU
We have always said that structural changes in police are needed,
especially at the station level where there is a massive workload on
policemen. For this reason, they need internal training on behaviour
and job responsibility
Another statistics shows that
the police have taken 67,039 disciplinary
actions against their errant
members. About 4-7% of these are
major punishments, which include
forced retirement and dismissal.
In total, 517 people have been
fired and 36 sent to forced retirement
in five years.
The rest were minor punishments,
such as suspension, demotion,
salary cuts, reproof notices
and transfers.
However, year-to-year figures
show that departmental cases have
not declined either. The number of
punishments were the highest in
2014 at 15,297 and lowest in 2015 at
11,167. In 2016, it went up again to
13,503.
The police force currently has
about 180,000 members, which
means on any given year, 6-8% of
the force is facing some kind of disciplinary
action.
Inspector General of Police (IGP)
Year
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
DISCIPLINARY ACTION
AGAINST POLICE MEMBERS IN LAST FIVE YEARS
Major punishment
11,810
13,217
14,448
10,492
12,932
Mild punishment
927
761
768
596
571
Source: Police Sources
AKM Shahidul Haque has said on
many occasions that the authorities
do not make light of any allegations
against any police member,
and the entire force cannot be held
responsible for its deviant members.
The IGP has also spoken out on
many occasions against use of excessive
force or violence by police
and said that such behaviour will
not be tolerated.
Human rights activist Nur Khan,
a former executive director of Ain
o Salish Kendra (ASK), told the
Dhaka Tribune that police professionalism
and chain of command
breaks down when police are used
for political gains.
“This is what leads to selfishness
and the moment when police stop
being the servant of the people and
become the oppressor,” he said.
“To rid ourselves of this plague,
we need to be able to exercise what
little provision there is. Police need
to ensure that there is an internal
monitoring agency to scrutinise
complaints against them. The investigation
should also involve
magistrates,” the activist said.
He also suggested that a permanent
commission be set up in this
regard.
“They will look into the serious
allegations against police and provide
the government with necessary
advice. This should prevent a
lot of the illicit activities and misuse
of power by police,” he said.
Human rights activist Alina
Khan believes police’s internal actions
are merely eyewash.
“When people forget the incident
a few days later, they are back
to doing the same job. To prevent
these incidents from recurring, we
need exemplary punishment,” she
said.
The crimes persist because police
members put their personal interests
first and do not have a sense
of belonging in the institution, she
said.
“They do not love their organisation.
If they did, these things
would not happen,” she added.
Dr Jia Rahman, professor of
criminology at Dhaka University,
says that economic transformation
of the society has created many opportunities
to engage in crime.
“Under these circumstances, if
police do not undergo massive reform,
people will not get necessary
service from them,” he said.
“We have always said that structural
changes in police are needed,
especially at the station level where
there is a massive workload on policemen.
For this reason, they need
internal training on behaviour and
job responsibility,” he said.
Although police have transparency,
it is not enough, he said. He
also urged the public to protest police
crimes and play a more important
role in the media.
Sahely Ferdous, assistant inspector
general (media and publication)
of the Police Headquarters
told the Dhaka Tribune: “When
we get any allegation against the
police, first we investigate it. If we
find any authenticity to the claims,
we take action against them.”
Police also undertake criminal
prosecutions against serious offenders,
she added. •