Honorable Guest of Honour

Honorable Special Guests

Representatives from development partners, civil society, NGOs,

Members of the survey team of Data Management Aid,

Friends from print and electronic media, and

Colleagues from Bangladesh Police, and PRP

Good Morning

It gives me a great pleasure today to welcome you all to this findings dissemination sessions on Public Attitude Follow-up Survey of Police Reform Programme. As the National Project Director of PRP, I take particular pride in the role that the programme has played in assisting Bangladesh Police to transform it into a modern police service. I am grateful for the support that this programme has received so far from the development partners-UNDP, DFID, EC and Government of Bangladesh.

August is the month of mourning for us. Father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed on 15 August 1975. Today let us take vow to build a safer and prosperous Bangladesh to realise the dream of the father of the nation. Today is 21 August. Five years back a horrendous crime has been committed in this day where 22 people were killed by grenade attack in a public meeting. As law enforcer let us also take vow to prevent recurrence of any such act of terror in future.

Ladies and Gentlemen

2.      Although PRP started in late 2005 it took some time to get momentum. In 2006 a “Public Attitude Baseline survey” was conducted to document the pre-intervention situation of the public perception towards the police service. Since then, PRP initiated and implemented many activities. A Public Attitude Follow-up Survey was undertaken in late 2008 to measure the changes with respect to the baseline situation. Police Reform in Bangladesh is now very much in the public eye and a focus for the media as every citizen of the country started to enjoy the benefits of the programme. Many of you are familiar with the Programme but perhaps many are not aware of what the Programme has achieved so far. Before presentation of the survey findings, I would like to take few minutes to share with you some of the achievements of the Programme.  

3.      A number of Policy-Legal Reforms were initiated during 2007/2008 by PRP that are fundamental in transforming Bangladesh police from force to service. Bangladesh Police Ordinance 2007 was prepared and the draft ordinance was submitted to the Caretaker Government in June 2007 for vetting. The Ordinance was supposed to replace the Police Act of 1861, seen as a major stumbling block to modernization and transformation of police into a service capable of meeting the contemporary challenges and providing support and services to the people. 

Ladies and Gentlemen

4.      The Evidence Act was amended and draft was submitted to the Caretaker Government in November 2007 for vetting. The proposed Evidence Act is expected to bring about significant changes in the way, in which evidence is collected, presented and evaluated in criminal and civil court proceedings.

5.      Strategic Plan (2008-10) for Bangladesh Police has been developed that outlines vision, mission, core values and future priorities. It has been described as the defining document of Bangladesh police.

6.     The Bangladesh Police Crime Prevention Strategy (CPS) has been drafted and is currently being reviewed. The strategy is based on a fundamentally new approach, which requires Bangladesh Police to assume wider responsibility with the emphasis from reactive "crime control" to proactive "crime prevention".  Establishment of the Crime Prevention Centre is one of the key initiatives already implemented under this strategy.  

7.     A Community Policing Strategy has been developed for institutionalizing the concept on a solid foundation, which is in the process of review with the MoHA.  Community policing is a relatively new concept in Bangladesh and is being explored as a way to work together by the community and the police for crime prevention. One of the significant outcomes of the Community Policing component was a very extensive program of community consultations carried out across the country. There has been a great impact of this concept on the service delivery of police as community policing is basically helping police in maintaining public order.

8.      In addition to this important work on the new legislation, policies and strategies, the preparation and adaptation of the first-ever Gender Guidelines in late 2007 for Bangladesh Police is a significant milestone. The implementation of the Gender Guidelines is expected to sensitize police personnel and lead to a gender sensitive re-orientation in the attitude towards women & children so that all people whether victims, accused or witness are treated with dignity and respect.

9.     Within the Juvenile Justice Roundtable led by UNICEF, PRP contributed towards the development of the National Plan of Action on Juvenile Justice which has been submitted to the government in 2008 for approval. 

Ladies and Gentlemen

10.    Institutional reform and development is another area where PRP made substantive progress. You have heard about the 11 model thanas supported by the PRP around the country. Enhanced infrastructural facilities, introduction of service delivery center, logistics support combining with access to professional service delivery have created better facilities for the community members attending the thana. “Police Open Day” has been re-introduced as a platform for Community–Police interaction.

11.    A new experience for Bangladesh Police is the construction of another six new Model Thanas that has been designed around a comprehensive need assessment of infrastructure for both office and residence combining with furniture and equipment.

12.    The country’s first Victim Support Center (VSC) in police environment has been established by Bangladesh Police with support from the Police Reform Programme at Tejgaon thana premises. A total of 10 (ten) NGOs with the experience in various areas for victim support are working in partnership with the Bangladesh Police.  This model, which is seen as a significant and groundbreaking strategy, providers for victims to report crime to police in a safe and secure environment whilst accessing professional services.

13.    Procurement of the Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS), delivery of specialized crime scene management training and support with the procurement of an Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) are just some of the milestones reached in enhancing the forensic capability of the CID and other investigative units within the police. Specialized equipment and training support has been provided to Dhaka and Chittagong forensic laboratories to conduct detailed examinations of secured evidence.

Ladies and Gentlemen

14.    Specialized capacity building in the area of Human Trafficking, Criminal Intelligence Analysis and technical enhancement in all areas of policing, combined with infrastructural expansion, has laid the foundation for future development. The THB investigation unit established at CID HQs, has been given a mandate to investigate human trafficking offences, throughout the country in a timely and effective manner.

15.    The Criminal Intelligence Analysis Unit has been established in CID Headquarters to gather, analyze and disseminate information on criminal activity and the persons responsible for criminal activity.

16.    Recognizing the need for the safety and security of tourists, a special beach unit has been established at Cox’s Bazar and a tourist police unit has been established in Rangamati by Bangladesh Police with the assistance from PRP.

17.    Unique emphasis was given on stipulating and improving the role of female police officers throughout a range of initiatives, which finally resulted in the creation of a Bangladesh Women Police Network. The network will promote the development of leadership among the policewomen. Meanwhile, 250 women of BP have become the members of the International Association of Women Police. Membership fees were paid by PRP.

18.    For effective use of ICT, “Bangladesh Police Information Management Strategy” (BPIMS) has been developed, covering organizational and system requirements to make better use of ICT resources.

 Ladies and Gentlemen

19.    Capacity building through training within the Bangladesh Police is another major focus of PRP activities. Based on the needs assessment, the training strategy for the Bangladesh Police, “From Training Need to Learning Approach”, has been developed and published. The strategy was shared with the Heads of Police Training Institutes in a conference. PRP delivered in-country training to more than 3000 police personnel of different ranks. Overseas training and exchange of information is another facet of the capacity building. With the assistance from PRP, more than 100 participants from Bangladesh Police and officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs participated in training/workshop/conference at different overseas locations and familiarized themselves with modern policing practices. 

Ladies and Gentlemen

20.    As you can see, PRP has achieved quite a lot within a relatively short time.  As I mentioned earlier a “Public Attitude Follow-up Survey” has been undertaken to obtain citizen’s perceptions about safety and crime in their communities, citizen’s concern and priorities for the police and their satisfaction with the Police Service. You will be pleased to know that the survey findings show a significant improvement of the police service over the period in-terms of reporting of crime, impartial investigation, victim support and in many other policing areas. Today the survey team of the “Data Management Aid (DMA)” is here with us to share the detailed findings of the survey. I hope you will enjoy deliberations of this session.

21.    The success of the project is also recognized by various other studies. Saferworld UK is an independent non-government organization. They conducted a study on human security and police service in Bangladesh in May 2008. Amongst others, the study focuses on the Police Reform Programme and police performance. The survey findings show that the police is the most improved institution: two years ago many people were of opinion that the police were not very effective but now they believe police have become relatively more active. The survey also indicates that people’s attitude towards the police are not as hostile as it was in the past. 85 percent of the respondents stated that they were respectful to the police.

22.    DFID, our major cost sharing partner, undertook an evaluation titled Output to Purpose Review in June 2008 and the project scored 2 point in the scale of 1-5 where 1 is the highest score. This score proves very good progress towards purpose completion as most of the output have been achieved.

23.    You will be pleased to know that based on the positive findings of the studies, our development partners, have come forward and committed to provide fund for the next 5 years of phase-II of the programme starting from October 2009. We have already prepared the Project Document(Prodoc) and Technical Assistance Project Proforma(TAPP) of the Phase-II of PRP keeping in mind the competing needs or demand of the police service and the limited resources that will be available for implementation of the programme. The entire police service of the country will be involved in achieving the outcomes that the PRP envisages for us. We are already on a path towards building a modern, service oriented and people friendly police organisation that our community will be proud of.

I would like to thank all of you for your kind presence.  I would like to thank DMA team for undertaking this important survey and for the wonderful job they have done.

Thank you all once again.

Speech made by IGP, please click here.

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