Reduce defence purchase, help the police

One would rightly be curious as to what is wrong with police. What has gone wrong? The memory of the 25th March night is still alive. The legacy of sacrifice by the poorly armed policemen at Rajarbag is still remembered with pride and tears. So what is so wrong: why police have lost their identity?

Not long back, Ekushey TV made a documentary on the Sharda Police Academy. It found out that the accommodation and food were very poor below standard. What it did not reveal that a trainee have to pay for everything in the academy -- for his uniform, bedding, food, accommodation -- each and everything. If you don't give money, you get nothing. Though very strange, all the expenditures of the training are sustained by the state.

Even before coming to the academy, one has to pay money (big amount) to get himself selected. We really do want to know how one manages that amount of money? May be by selling land or other property, or taking loan with hefty interests. So the first and most important mission of a police SI after passing out from Sharda is to recover that money as soon as possible.

A young man had to give bribe to get himself selected, to get trained, to get a uniform. What service and loyalty can we expect out of him? If we have compelled someone to be corrupt at his moulding period, how can we expect him to keep away from corruption. Moreover the pay scale of police is so poor that it is impossible to run a family with that amount of money these days. After all, a policeman is a human being. He is a son of a father, a loving husband -- a part of society. The money that he gets goes nowhere near meeting even all his most basic demands. In many of the cases, a policeman becomes obligated to be corrupt; and then he gets used to it.

Over the last few years, people have lost all the faith and trust they had in police. If someone doesn't agree, please see the news of 27 miscreants being beaten to death by mob on 7th and 8th of December. It shows the general frustration and mistrust toward the state's law and law enforcing agencies. Partisan politics has contributed to corruption in police and mistrust of people toward them.

The government must take a serious view on this issue and take some quick steps to salvage the reputation and glory of the police department. The major political parties must realise that police are for the security of the general people, and not for giving shelter to the armed cadres of any political outfit.

The government must immediately make the recruitment process of police corruption-free, clean the police academy, and ensure a good standard of training and accommodation. It must chalk out an attractive career plan for the policemen and improve their salary structure. The government must make sure that a government employee can lead a reasonable life with dignity and status.

Every year, the state spends thousands of crores of taka for defence budget. A huge amount of this money is spent for arms and equipment purchase.

I think it is sensible to curtail defence purchase and allot the money to reform police. The deteriorating law and order situation in the country is the most important issue to be attended now. It's the police who have to maintain law and order in the country. Otherwise, general people will take the law in their own hands and 'might' will become the 'right'... one might fear, it has already become.