Law alter views
Community
policing: Some food for thought
J.
Hasan
In
the background of poor record in human rights protection
and deteriorating law and order situation in Bangladesh,
community-policing strategy adopted in recent past in
some selected districts by Bangladesh police was comparatively
innovative. Although successfully applied in many countries
in the world, in Bangladesh it was relatively new. Not
as a new crime prevention unit, community policing was
adopted, under a donor-funded project, by Bangladesh Police
as transition from traditional or professional model of
police service to a more community-involved one. In this
strategy, the community is not simply viewed as a passive
recipient of police service but as an active element in
the decision-making process of local police units, which
affects priorities, allocations and implementation of
police services.
Bangladesh
is a densely populated country and it has limited resources
for which it cannot increase number of police personnel.
This has been the reason for developing community policing
in Bangladesh. Community police units were set up in selected
urban and rural areas. The structures of community police
unit are as follows:
Clients/associated
bodies of community police units are local educational
institutions, business associations, private organisations,
bank, insurance, NGO, village police, village defence
party (VDP), voluntary organisations, journalists, interested
community members.
The
objectives of community policing in Bangladesh are:
*To establish rule of law in society
*To establish a society free of crimes
*To prevent misuse of narcotics substances
*To prevent anti-social activities
*To create local people's awareness and participation
in maintaining law and order
*To assist law enforcement forces in maintaining law and
order by providing information on crimes and criminals
*To develop good relations between police administration
and people
*To perform social services
How
community police units are formed
There is an advisory council at district level. It consists
of District Police Superintendent, additional District
Police Superintendent and Assistant District Police Superintendents.
This council can co-opt important and interested persons
in the committee. This council sits at least once a month
to review law and order situation of the district and
to take necessary steps.
The
thana (local government administrative unit) consists
of one convenor, one treasurer and six members. The union
or ward unit consists of one convenor, one treasurer and
six members. This unit provides decision/instruction after
reviewing law and order situation at thana level. This
unit also decides requirement of patrol police and how
patrol police perform their functions.
The
number of members of highway/road units is to be decided
by thana unit.
At
the very grassroots neighbourhood level, a patrol team
of 12 persons consisting of members from ansar, village
police, village defence party, village security guards
is formed. This number may be more or less depending on
requirement. This team basically patrols in neighbourhood
and provide information to police to stop illegal activities.
Responsibility
of local police station
A police sub-inspector in particular police station, under
supervision of the officer-in-charge of the station, usually
forms relevant committees, maintains records and involves
community patrol units in maintaining law and order. He
organises meetings of various units, interacts with community
people, motivates and co-ordinates. The officer-in-charge
of the police station monitors law and order situation
and maintains liaison with district advisory council as
well as among units. He also takes immediate necessary
step as soon as he gets any information on law and order
from community people.
Finance/budget
Patrol and information activities of community units are
financed by community people by voluntary contribution.
The budget is usually decided by concerned unit. Money
is generally required for purchasing small equipment,
allowances for patrol groups or for incentive for good
performance.
Activities
of community police units
*Area/locality patrol
*Inspection of office/residential areas
*Motivation and awareness raising
*Community watch/monitoring
*Questioning outsiders/people of suspicious behaviour
*Providing information/reporting to local police stations
about identified criminals, drug addicts, anti-social
elements, extortionists, warranted persons
*Taking instant measures in crime/law and order situations
before regular police intervenes
*Providing caution to law violators and petty offenders
*Helping pedestrians in following traffic rules and discipline
*Summoning notice/orders issued from courts in the locality
How
community policing is different
In traditional policing in Bangladesh, police acts on
reactive approach after getting complaints/information
from people. But in community policing, police works with
community people in maintaining law and order and preventing
crimes in proactive approach. In reactive policing, the
relation between police and people is sort of patron-client
relationship while in community policing, the relation
is of involvement, co-operation and participation. As
a result, community people participate in policing spontaneously.
In traditional policing, police is treated as law enforcement
agency while in community policing, they are treated as
service-provider. In traditional policing, police acts
through incident response while in community policing,
police acts through identification and preventive measures.
Traditional policing is run by State resources while community
policing is run by community voluntary resources. In traditional
policing, the scope for getting information from people
is very limited while in community policing, members of
community are expected to come forward voluntarily to
provide information to police.
Development
perspective
In socio-development indicators like enrolment in primary
schools, immunisation, maternal mortality, sanitary awareness,
malnutrition, family planning etc., Bangladesh has made
considerable progress in last more than two decades. It
was largely because of government and NGO efforts for
involving people and communities at the very grassroots
delivery level. The Asia Foundation, in collaboration
with some local NGOs, has recently introduced a project
on community policing in some selected areas of the country.
In the perspective of deteriorating law and order situation
and human rights violations, policymakers should think
of community policing as a potential effective tool for
improving the quality of police service and mainstream
it in governance strategies.
The
author is a human rights activist .
