Editorial
Increases in police pay and rations
Good move that must lead to better performance
Increases in pay and rations for the police force are currently being envisaged. It is our opinion that the move has long been overdue and could have been taken earlier. However, now that seriousness has been attached to the issue, we remain hopeful that a positive outcome, both for the police and the general body of citizens, will emerge from the move. A total of taka 128 crore has been earmarked toward the increases in question. We understand that an increase of 25 per cent in salary as part of risk allowances for officers from the position of inspector general to that of constable has been recommended. Apart from that, other recommendations, notably 60 per cent in allowances for personnel in the traffic department, have been made. In the overall sense, these increases should be reflected positively in the performance of the police force.Of course, it would not be wise to suggest that an increase in pay and other financial benefits for the police will necessarily lead to better performance or more professional competence on their part. However, as we have hinted earlier, the measures that are on the way should act as a spur to more efficient service being provided to citizens by the police. For a long number of years, we have been told over and over again that friendly people-police relations are a prerequisite to the maintenance of normal conditions in society. That being so, we expect that along with the increases in pay and rations, there will come a change in the mindset of the police toward citizens. How that will happen depends on how serious the authorities are about depoliticising the police department. In other words, the police must be kept free of all kinds of executive and political interference in carrying out their professional responsibilities. In the larger sense, a need for the police to uphold human rights through a proper exercise of their powers is of crucial importance. In the longer run, a comprehensive reforms process must be brought into the functions of the police service. With a tradition of police behaviour dating back to colonial times, it is imperative after nearly four decades into national freedom that the police scale the heights where citizens can really look upon them as their friends. The increases in pay and rations are but a small and yet significant move toward that end.
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