No ‘night party’ at some police check points

"Night Party" -- this is the name of a newly-formed  Dhaka Metropolitan Police team to ensure round the clock police presence on the capital's streets, mostly after midnight.

However, the impact of this initiative remains questionable, as these correspondents saw no police presence at many check points during recent visits.

This newspaper  visited police check points near Parbat cinema hall in the Gabtoli area on October 1, Police Plaza in Gulshan-1 on October 4, Manik Miah Avenue and Nilkhet intersection on September 26, and found no police personnel in all the cases.

At Nilkhet intersection, there was a police van nearby but no policemen were seen around.

KH Mahid Uddin, additional deputy commissioner (crime and operations) of DMP, however, said the situation at the check points has improved since the introduction of "night party".

The DMP on August 1 in a special order directed to form 31 special monitoring teams, led by a deputy commissioner each, to visit and monitor the checkpoint activities from 1:00am to 6:00am daily.

"Achieving 100 percent success is not feasible, but security measures are indeed improving. Our goal is to provide round-the-clock security for Dhaka residents," Mahid said.

Meanwhile, the DMP on August 1 in a special order directed its units to form 31 special monitoring teams, led by a deputy commissioner each, to visit and monitor the checkpoint activities from 1:00am to 6:00am daily, according to officials.

If any check points are found empty, then the monitoring teams were instructed to send their report to the DMP high officials immediately.

A member of the special team said many policemen perform night duties with a careless attitude.

"Some often spend their time sleeping. However, after formation of the surveillance teams, police personnel in Dhaka are now on full alert," said the officer, requesting anonymity.

Meanwhile, cops were also seen performing duty in some of the check points.

At the check point near Navana Tower on September 26, policemen were seen stopping every vehicle for a security check.

A police constable, who was on duty, said, "We are checking almost every vehicle which passes the check point. Our superiors always monitor us… now more than before."

One of the correspondents was also stopped for a security check at the check point in the Gulshan Lake area.

Another policeman, on duty at a at Doyagonj intersection, said, "We've increased our patrols to combat mugging. Special teams from the headquarters are monitoring our activities."

And yet, despite DMP's recent moves to intensify security checks, miscreants in separate groups robbed a number of commuters and looted dozens of shops in Basila Garden City Housing area on September 29.

In this regard, on October 2, newly-appointed DMP Commissioner Habibur Rahman said, "We are committed to bringing down such incidents. We will form a special task force soon to prevent such occurrences."