Errant DMP cops to face the music

About 700 lower-tier DMP officials, including 16 officers-in-charge of Dhaka metropolitan police stations, were transferred over the last two and a half months following information that they were involved in corruption and other criminal activities.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police counter-intelligence unit received information that 200 of them were involved in corruption, said a top DMP official, preferring anonymity. 

Most of these errant officers were sent out of the DMP through the Police Headquarters as punishment, the official said. 

He said the officials have been transferred outside Dhaka and given less important positions as intelligence report primarily found their involvement in corruption and other crimes. 

“If we receive any specific complaint against anyone, we will investigate. If the officials transferred are found guilty, they will face punitive action,” the official told The Daily Star yesterday wishing anonymity. 

Another official said, “We have taken the initiative to remove corrupt and inefficient officers in an attempt to deliver better services to people.” 

The DMP actually transferred 1,400 policemen during the period but half of them were routine transfers. 

Some of them were transferred for their inefficiency and some for serving more than five years at the same units. 

The transfer list also includes 32 inspectors (investigation) and 31 inspectors (operation), 26 traffic inspectors, around 150 sub-inspectors, and some 1,100 assistant sub-inspectors.

The reshuffle started after Shafiqul Islam took charge as the DMP commissioner on September 13. 

Shafiqul instructed officials concerned to create profiles of every officer in the DMP.

There had long been dissatisfaction among many police officers as a group of inspectors, blessed by some influential political leaders and police high-ups, were influencing the postings of OCs at different DMP police stations for years.

The reason behind an officer’s eagerness to get posted as an OC in the DMP is an open secret.

Several police officials, wishing anonymity, said police stations illegally collect a huge amount of money every day from hawkers and drug dealers. 

Many OCs, who have recently been transferred, used to get a large cut, they added. 

In three orders issued since October 1, the DMP commissioner transferred OCs of 16 police stations and brought in some new faces.

The transferred OCs were sent to units where making illegal money is hardly possible, they said.

“There were some powerful officers who thought they could never be touched. Now they are getting a message that they would not be able to retain their posts without discharging their duties with transparency,” city police chief Shafiqul said. 

The commissioner said he had considered officers’ capability and reputation before appointing them as OCs. 

Under the DMP, there are 50 police stations, each having an average of 50 officers.  

“The good ones are being chosen for the OC posts and we are doing it transparently. There is no lobbying and nothing is exchanged,” he added. 

Joint Commissioner (headquarters) of DMP Sha Migan Shafiur Rahman said, “We are taking tough measures to ensure better services to city dwellers.”

In February last year, the then DMP deputy commissioner of Tejgaon division Biplob Kumar Sarkar at a quarterly crime conference said, “An OC has to pay a bribe of Tk 30 lakh to Tk 1.5 crore for his posting. A sub-inspector needs to pay lakhs of taka for his transfer.” 

He then suggested that senior police officials must stop taking bribes for postings of OCs and SIs. 

The DMP has around 34,000 members. Of them, 643 are inspectors, 2,600 are SIs, and 3,982 are ASIs.