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Criminal cops become a headache

SuLTANA RAHMAN
Involvement of members of the law-enforcing agencies in crime has seen a worrying rise recently. According to Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) sources, a total of 132 offenses by the police have been reported from January to August 8 this year in the metropolis alone. Last year 123 such cased had been registered during the same period.
The crimes by the law enforcers include robbery, extortion, mugging, drug peddling, rape and violence against women. Interestingly, those charged are mostly low ranking police employees like constables, ASIs and SIs.
"The criminal activities by a few policemen has tarnished the image of the whole department," said former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr
Enamul Haque. "Now the situation has gone beyond normal," he added.
Former police high-ups blamed lack of supervision by senior officials according to the chain of command as one of the main reasons behind crime by the police.
"From the top official to the bottom-ranked personnel, every policeman maintains an official Personal Dairy (PD) and Tour Diary (TD) where all their activities are supposed to be written. If these PDs and TDs are followed and checked by respective senior officials, such crimes would come down drastically," said ex-IGP Ashraful Huda.
"If these dairies are monitored properly and regularly, then it becomes easy to detect the movements of a policeman," said Ashraful Huda who also thought that the Police Head Quarter's security cell at the
Police Head Quarters, which monitors and investigates criminal involvement of policemen, was not that well equipped to handle the matter.
Meanwhile, criminal incidents by the police show no signs of ceasing. Two cops along with two police informants were arrested at Shyampur on August 2 after they had allegedly robbed a rice-seller at Srinagar in Munshiganj of Tk 3.3 lakh. The rice-seller caught the cops with the help of an angry mob who beat them up before handing them over to the police. On July 21, four policemen were arrested for stealing 13.5 kilograms of silver and Tk 28,000 in cash from an employee of a gold shop in the capital.
On June 29, sergeant Zulfikar Ali robbed a businessman of Tk 14.47 lakh at Bijoynagar. He had since been remanded thrice and sent to jail but the booty was yet to be recovered. Three police-
men were arrested on April 10 at Shyampur on charges of extorting money from the owner of an auto-rickshaw garage. SI Hafizur Rahman of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) was held on March 3 at Khilgaon for robbing a rice wholesaler.
Former IGPs Dr Enamul Haque, Nurul Huda and Ashraful Huda said that based on experience, they think that rampant political influence in the recruitment process of police had spoiled the department. They said the government should take urgent initiatives to motivate the cops and make them aware of the dignity and responsibility of the uniform they wear. They also felt that the Police Verification Report (PVR) process during recruitment should be further strengthened as people can literally buy a PVR by bribing certain inspectors.