The police brass is likely to request the Prime Minister to create a separate division for the men in uniform under the home ministry. The request would be made during the inauguration of “Police Week 2017” today, inspector general of police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Hoque told a private TV channel. The IGP said a separate division was needed to streamline the approval of proposals from the police headquarters. “Sometimes home ministry officials delay approving such proposals. If there was a separate police division under the ministry, a senior police officer would be posted there and will be able to smoothly discharge police proposals and files,” he added. Hoque said that the authorities should enact the proposed Police Act as soon as possible as part of reforming the police administration. On Thursday, the government had bifurcated the home ministry into two divisions—Public Security Division and Security Service Division—as part of ongoing reforms and to speed up the ministry’s activities. About the Police Act, Md Nurul Islam, joint secretary of the home ministry, told The Independent that they were scrutinising the draft prepared by the police headquarters. “We will send the draft to the Cabinet Division for finalising it before placing it at the Cabinet meeting,” he said.
According to home ministry sources, the draft Police Ordinance was prepared by the police department in 2007 with the help of the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) as part of police reforms. The aim was to free the police force from political interference and pave the way for building a public service-oriented force. After preparing the draft, police had sent it to the home ministry for finalising it. However, the home ministry returned the draft ordinance to the police headquarters, and asked it to submit a draft Act instead. The sources informed that the police headquarters has submitted a draft Police Act to the home ministry after preparing it. The home ministry has formed a sub-committee headed by joint secretary Md Nurul Islam for finalising it. As per the draft Police Act, it has a provision for appointing a “police chief” from a shortlist of senior police officers, recommended by a national police commission. At present, a total of 211,564 police personnel are engaged in maintaining law and order across the country.