83,000 new posts created in police in 15-yr

About 120,000 cops recruited during the period

Farhad Chowdhury: The police force plays a key role in maintaining peace and order in the country at the field level. A large number of new posts have been created and recruited in this force in the last 15 years. According to the information of the Public Security Department of the Ministry of Home Affairs, a total of 83,070 new posts were created in Bangladesh Police in 15 years from 2009-2023. But in this decade and a half only 1 lakh 19 thousand 919 people were appointed to the posts of constable, SI and police sergeant, which is almost half of the total police personnel.
Analysts say that most of the police appointments were for political purposes. During the one-and-a-half-decade regime of the newly deposed Awami League government, they have been used mainly as a tool to maintain power.
Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Iftekharuzzaman told about this, ‘One of the big problems of our rulers is that they don’t want to leave power; Want to make power permanent. In the last decade and a half this power has been perpetuated and every institution of the state, including the police, has been partisanised in order to extort money. Political motives were also central to the large recruitment of police and they were used as a tool to maintain power. As a result, they have lost the public’s trust.
According to a statistic published last November about the changes in the police force in the last decade and a half by the Public Security Department, the number of police personnel in the country is about 213,000. Among them, 1 lakh 5 thousand 925 constables, 11,510 SIs and 2,484 police sergeants have been appointed after the Awami League government assumed power in 2009. Most of them have been appointed as SI and Sergeant in the third term of the Awami League government. During this period, 4,908 people were appointed to the post of SI and 727 people were appointed to the post of sergeant. In addition, during the period 2009-2013, 3,751 people were appointed to the post of SI and 426 people were appointed to the post of sergeant.
During the period 2014-2018, 2,845 people were appointed to the post of SI and 426 people were appointed to the post of sergeant.
In this decade and a half, 64 new police stations, 97 information centers and one outpost were established in the country. Besides, a total of 2,760 pickups, 524 jeeps, 354 trucks, 13 APCs, 178 watercraft and 7,634 motorcycles have been purchased for the police in a decade and a half. Besides, police firearms have also been modernized.
There has been criticism about the activities of the law and order forces in Bangladesh for a long time. Concerns have been expressed several times from the international community about various issues including extrajudicial killings. However, the recent incident of indiscriminate firing by the police on protesting students demanding quota reforms created public anger. As a result of this, the Awami League government collapsed in the popular uprising. There have been incidents of attacks on policemen in different police stations of the country. In addition to common people, many policemen also died in these incidents.
According to the Bangladesh Police Association, more than 450 police stations across the country were infected in one day on August 5. Earlier on August 4, 14 policemen died. More than three hundred were injured. Due to these incidents, the non-cadre policemen and officers went on a strike with 11-point demands including giving the police an opportunity to work impartially. As a result, the traffic points along with all police stations in the country become practically empty.
The executive director of TIB Iftekharuzzamansaid about the role of the police in the student movement, “People’s trust in the police had gone earlier. It was seen that people went to the police only when they had no other choice. But it was still seen that the victim was not getting help from the police, rather the police were protecting the criminal. As a result, people lost faith in the police earlier. The outpouring of public anger towards the police that we have seen in the past few days is a once-in-a-lifetime event. We have seen this now because of the way the police acted on party orders to stop the movement of the students.
He also said, “However, I don’t think that the policemen were killed or the students set fire to the police station. Because they wanted justice in a systematic way. This violence may have caused some opportunistic circles. However, the police must be returned to work to protect the peace and order of our country. The students who are agitating from quota reform to state reform have already started working, the rest should also come forward. Remember, not all police are criminals, both those who obeyed the order and those who gave the order must be prosecuted. And radical changes should be made in all institutes including the police, so that the institutes work for public welfare instead of maintaining political power. This change will not come in a day. That’s why you have to be patient.
Due to attacks on the police across the country, the policemen announced a strike from August 6. Traffic points along with all police stations in the country become virtually empty. As a result, a major security crisis has arisen. On August 7, the policemen were ordered to join work within 24 hours. However, at this time, many of the police expressed concern about security. With the help of the army and BGB, the activities of various police stations of the country have been started yesterday.
Former police officers say that the police should come forward to resolve this crisis and should put more emphasis on gaining the public’s trust. Former IGP Muhammad Nurul Huda told about the return to normal police activities, “Police must be restructured, but restructuring is not an easy matter.” It is a long process and subject to extensive discussion. For now, the police will have to come forward to normalize the situation. Must come in public. They should return to work.
Brigadier General (Retd.) M Sakhawat Hossain, Advisor to the Ministry of Home Affairs in the new interim government, said, “What the police have done is undoubtedly inexcusable. Action will be taken against those who are most responsible for that. But if the people kill the police before the investigation, it is not desirable in any way. In a decade and a half, so many policemen must have been appointed for political reasons. I will go to the ministry on Sunday, there will be a talk with the police. How to run the police free from politics, how to make the recruitment process more transparent, how to compensate the policemen who died, these issues will be discussed.
Regarding the plan in the current situation, he said, “I don’t know how long I can stay.” But as long as I stay, I will work on reforming the police. I will work on how to stop the interference of political parties in the police. I want the police to be reformed in such a way that no one can use the police as a political tool. We will try to create some such mechanisms. I will try to give some ideas about how much the police can be made people-friendly, how much corruption can be reduced in the police. If necessary, I will look at the policing system of the country and abroad. But one thing should be kept in mind, the police are part of the human species. They are not technologies that can pinpoint where the problem is and fix it overnight. It is a complex and time-consuming matter.