Pressing urgency for police reform

High ranking police officials subjected their force's conduct to a measure of self-examination and introspection at a closed-door discussion on law and order on the occasion of Police Week-2012 on Tuesday.
We consider it a welcome development from what used to be generally a mode of self-denial, as though, echoing the government's line. They can only change when they look at their performance self-critically and acknowledge the allegations of corruption, negligence, public harassment, power abuse and poor service being usually made against them.
The Prime Minister in her speech has pointed to the need for increasing the awareness level in the police about human rights.
The government leaders often exhort the police to improve their attitude, performance and service, but when time comes for them to act professionally, they are interfered with politically. While doing so, they conveniently avoid addressing the reform agenda, which has been long overdue since the Bangladesh Police Ordinance was drafted in 2007.
The media, the civil society members and retired police officials have been constantly providing their inputs for police reform urging its expeditious implementation.
Far from paying any heed to their chorus of demands, they have continued unabashedly in their old-practice of using the police as a convenient instrument of coercion and fulfilling their own political agenda.
Simultaneous with a qualitative transformation in police training content and motivation grounded in public service-orientations as distinguished from alienation from the people, the logistical and equipment-base of the police force will have to be vastly improved. Their service conditions need upgrading along with salary increases given the very challenging nature of their job.
Contrary to the conventional view of any ruling party that the police should act to the bidding of their political masters, the continuing deterioration of law and order and abuse of power through collusive arrangements can only erode the effectiveness of governance and in turn affect the credibility of the ruling party. So it is in the best interest of the political parties and the nation that the government brings to bear the full weight of its political will on the long-pending police reform agenda.