Half-trained cops made sentinels of balloting

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After curtailing the basic training programme at Sardah Police Academy last year, the government in yet another blatant move has placed 821 sub-inspectors (SI) at different police stations, ignoring field level training for another remaining one and a half years, to ensure their election duty.

Breaking the police regulation, the government has exempted the SIs of training at the circle offices for three months, courts for six months and at the police lines for another three months, and directly posted them at police stations across the country.

Earlier, the one-year basic training of these police officers at Sardah was curtailed by six months.

According to the Police Regulation of Bengal 1943, an SI has to undergo one year’s basic training at Sardah. Then he is attached to a police station for six months as part of a two-year practical training programme.

After completion of training at the police station, the SI is posted at a circle office for three months, at a court for six months and at the police lines for three months. Finally the SI is taken back to a police station for six months. During this period, the SI performs almost all police duties including investigation.

If the police regulations were followed, these SIs would be stationed at the courts during the next general elections learning the legal activities and would not be in any law enforcement capacity, said a senior police official on condition of anonymity.

“But by breaking regulation 791 of the Police Regulation of Bengal 1943, the government has awarded posting to these sub-inspectors so that they can be used for law enforcement during the election,” he added.

These trainings help erase the political affiliations, if any, of these police cadres, he said. “But curtailing the training period will now leave these half-trained police officials fresh with their political motivations, which will definitely affect their duty during the election,” the police official added.

Most of these 821 SIs recruited on August 23 last year were activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), ruling BNP’s student wing, and Islami Chhatra Shibir, student wing of BNP’s coalition partner Jamaat-e-Islami.

They were involved in JCD and Shibir activities in educational institutions at upazilas and districts across the country.

Newspapers recently carried stories with detailed information on these JCD and Shibir men.

Some of these activists were arrested and taken on remand in connection with the Ramna Batamul bombing incident, the case of which is pending. One of these SIs was arrested in Bogra for militant activities.

Earlier, the present government shortened the field-level training of 203 assistant superintendents of police (ASPs) recruited through the controversial 24th Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examinations by three months to ensure their posting within its tenure.

Many of these ASPs and SIs were seen during police action against the opposition in the capital recently, said another senior police official, requesting anonymity.

“It is like giving one authority to operate upon a patient before completing the medical course successfully,” he said.

However, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Anwarul Iqbal denied that the postings of the SIs at police stations were made for the upcoming election and blamed it on the accommodation problem.

The SIs will complete their training in phases, the IGP told The Daily Star yesterday.

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