Think about cops' work setting before bashing them

Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque yesterday urged people to consider the environment police work in and other barriers they face before criticising them.

"I will request you to consider the work environment of police, working hours, uneven police to population ratio, shortage of equipment and vehicles, and people's tendency to break law and not cooperate with the force," he said.

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The police chief said unprofessional attitudes and degeneration of a few policemen affected the force's reputation, and it would not take responsibility for those individual offenders.

His comments came amid a series of allegations against cops for torturing and threatening people with implicating them in false cases and also taking their lives.

The IGP was speaking at a press briefing at the Police Headquarters in the capital to inform the media about the Police Week which starts at the Rajarbagh Police Lines tomorrow.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the event.

This year 102 police personnel will receive awards including Bangladesh Police Medal (BPM) and President Police Medal (PPM) for their courageous roles.

Answering to a query, the IGP said police members faced allegations like power abuse, corruption, misbehaving with citizens, negligence in duty, and leaving duty without informing superiors in the past while departmental action was taken against them.

After facing departmental action, 709 cops appealed to the court in the last five years. Of them, 293 had been acquitted, he said. "We enquired into each allegation brought against police personnel and took action," he claimed.

He said 70 cases related to militant activities had been filed, while police nabbed 235 suspected militants between January and November last year.

The IGP claimed that police had unearthed mystery behind all militant attacks that took place so far.

He, however, admitted that the force was yet to form a special unit to curb militancy.

He also said last year 47,668 cases related to narcotics and 2,079 cases related to illegal firearms were filed while they nabbed 58,854 and 3,472 suspects in those cases respectively.

As many as 4,036 murder cases were filed last year.

A policeman was killed and 339 others sustained injuries while fighting anarchic and subversive activities last year, he said.

Referring to a survey conducted by US-based Gallup Poll, he said the law and order situation in Bangladesh was better than in the US, Australia, France and India last year.

Bangladesh ranked second after Sri Lanka in South Asia while Singapore topped the global index.