‘Cop-community partnership a must for successful community policing’

A partnership between police and the community is the basis of successful community policing, said National Project Director of Police Reform Programme (PRP) and Additional Inspector General of Bangladesh Police NBK Tripura yesterday.
He was addressing a consultation on community policing at Hotel Naz Garden in Bogra.
AKM Shahidul Hoque, deputy inspector general (DIG) Rajshahi Range, delivered the welcome speech at the consultation, also attended by the police supers (SPs) of 16 northern districts.
The chief guest expressed Bangladesh Police's commitment towards providing professional police service through community based policing. He also hoped that community policing, an essential part of the police reform to prevent crime, could be introduced throughout the country.
Tripura urged the police officers to be open minded, unbiased and sensitive toward community policing so that the community can receive the best possible policing services and can actively participate in solving community needs in partnership with the police.
Kumar Koirala, crime prevention and community safety adviser, PRP, Mark Weston Wall, training and executive development specialist, PRP, Md Fazlur Rahman Paiker, president Bogra Chamber of Commerce and Industry, MR Salam, coordinator, Community Policing Forum (CPF) Gaibandha District Committee, Mahfuz Ara Eva, executive director of an NGO, journalist Mostafizur Rahman Khan and the Acting Superintendent of Police (SP) Bogra Moinul Haque also attended the consultation.
The consultation is the second of its kind in the country that is aimed at providing a forum from which a dialogue could be stimulated among the local community stakeholders.
Such consultations will also take place in other divisional headquarters in order to formulate a common strategy on community policing.
In 2005, the Government of Bangladesh, UNDP and the Department for International Development (DFID) launched the first phase of the PRP that aims at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the Bangladesh Police.
The programme is being implemented by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Bangladesh Police. The European Commission is also a major partner in the programme.
The overall purpose of the PRP is to develop a safer and more secure environment based on respect for human rights and equitable access to justice through police reform and transforming it from a colonial government order model to a public service.