Whereas the members of the police force deployed in maintaining law and order are supposed to be the friends of the public, they have turned into a source of intimidation.
Leaving out a few exceptions, people do not want to go to the police for services and even if they go they fall victim to harassment instead of getting relief.
Bangladesh police reform commission recently carried out a public survey titled ‘what kind of police do we want (Kemon police Chai)’ which we believe is really effective.
Government and non-government organisations take opinions from experts on many issues, which do not have much resemblance with the reality. But the opinions coming from people of different class and professions represent the actual picture.
Many crucial matters have come up in the survey done by the police reform commission. One of which is that maximum 88.7 per cent respondents have said that they want a police force free of political influence.
Meanwhile, 86.2 per cent and 84 per cent respondents respectively want to see a police force that is obedient to law and free from corruption. And, 74.9 per cent respondents gave their opinion in favour of holding the members involved in enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killings accountable and bringing them to justice.
On 31 October, the police reform commission formed by the interim government decided to carry out this public survey. As many as 24,442 people participated in the survey. About 87 per cent of the respondents were aged between 18 and 44 years. There were 23,191 or 95 per cent male respondents with 1,251 or 5 per cent female respondents among them.
The survey results showed that as much as 60 per cent of the people have voted in favour of forming a completely independent organisation to investigate the allegation of power misuse including human rights violation. And, 20 per cent of the respondents have spoken of forming a permanent investigation commission led by a retired justice of the High Court division.
Apart from that, 20 per cent of the respondents have talked about handing over power to the National Human Rights Commission by amending the relevant section of the National Human Rights Commission Act. And, 41 per cent of the people have spoken of establishing an independent ‘police ombudsman’.
Around 92 per cent of the respondents want section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to be amended and reformed. Under this section, the accused are interrogated under police custody or on remand. Meanwhile, 87 per cent of the respondents have voted in favour of launching an effective call service for a remedy if the police refuse to identify themselves during a search or try to search without a warrant.
Most of the respondents are job holders, students and business persons. More or less, they do have a social influence. But, if the commission had included the marginal working class people in the survey, they would have found a more negative picture about the police force.
However, quite a few positive aspects have also come up in the survey, a notable one of which is the ‘national emergency service 999’. As much as 57 per cent of the people have stated that they are satisfied with this service while, 32 per cent of them are unsatisfied.
In that case, it needs to launch more campaign about the national emergency service. Currently, there are more beneficiaries of this service in the urban areas. This programme needs to be reinforced in remote areas as well, so that the marginal people are benefited from this.
We will expect that the commission would prioritise the issues of reforming the law and structure of the police force. Especially, if a police force free of political influence can be formed, the rate of corruption and power abuse among them will be reduced as well.
The public truly expect a people-oriented police force that will perform its professional duties with honesty remaining beyond all forms of illegal influence. And, the police force will truly be the friends of the public.