THIS is concerning and a disservice to the spirit of the July uprising that a section of police personnel is still involved in criminal and corrupt activities. The involvement of police personnel in crimes such as extortion, bribery, intimidation and framing innocent people in false cases has continued to make the headlines every other day. The agency is also reported to have taken token measures, suspension and transfer, once the incidents make the headlines. The authorities on July 25 suspended a superintendent of police for his alleged involvement in extortion. Earlier, when the representative of a victim went to file a case that named the police officer as accused, the officer tortured the man who sought to file the case. The authorities on July 15 suspended a former Ramna division assistant commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police for taking Tk 27 lakh from an accused in an embezzlement case. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police on May 4 suspended the Kalabagan police officer-in-charge and two sub-inspectors over allegations of unprofessional conduct. Allegations also have it that the police took money from innocent people, threatening them with arrest in violence-related cases after the July 16 Gopalganj violence.
All such incidents suggest that the law enforcement agency, which largely lost its credibility for furthering partisan causes of the authoritarian Awami League regime in 2009鈥�2024 and lost public trust, has utterly failed to discipline itself and restore its credibility. It was expected that the July uprising 鈥� when the police shot students and civilians indiscriminately, killing hundreds and injuring thousands and when they also faced the people鈥檚 wrath 鈥� would be a wake-up call for the police and other law enforcement agencies, prompting a course correction. The interim government, which prioritised reforms in various sectors, formed a police administrative reforms commission that submitted a report to the chief adviser on January 15, outlining 15 major recommendations to promote transparency, accountability, rights and citizen-focused policing. The commission has proposed the formation of an independent body to oversee the operation of the force and ensure that its activities are transparent and accountable. What is disappointing, however, is that the government has made no progress in implementing the much-needed recommendations of the reforms commission.
While the government should immediately begin implementing the reforms commission recommendations, the law enforcement agency should also realise that it needs to make a course correction to restore its image and earn public trust. The agency should not allow a section of errant personnel to tarnish its image.
