Police are still using 20 to 30 years old vehicles, most of which are almost inoperable and running with their long-expired fitness certificate
Published : 30 Aug 2023, 03:40 AM
It was around 11pm when a police patrol car emerged at the Shialbari intersection in Mirpur.
A sub-inspector agreed when the bdnews24.com reporter requested him to drop him at C block in Mirpur-1.
While they were on the way, a motorcyclist sped past the patrol car with two pillion riders in breach of the law.
Though the law enforcers wished to stop the motorcycle, they couldn't do so.
“We can't catch them because if we speed up the fuel will enter the engine, shutting down our car," the sub-inspector explained.
Asked how they can do their job properly if they are unable to chase a suspect, he said: “What I can tell you is that we have five patrol cars at Rupnagar Police Station and none of them are in good condition.”
“We have to make do with those. You can't speed up the cars and must keep the speed limited to 15 to 20 kilometres per hour.”
“If we send the cars to the transport department, they just repair them a little and return to the police station. But they never send new cars. Had there been new cars, they would not need repairs for five years. And, we could drive them faster."
Not just Rupnagar, but all 50 police stations in Dhaka have only “ramshackle” patrol cars, the police officer said.
The number of patrol cars for police overseeing security in Dhaka, a city of around 20 million people, is only 357.
The total number of police vehicles stands at 1,553 in the metropolitan area, including buses, trucks, microbuses, ambulances, wreckers, prison vans, armoured personnel carriers, dead body carrier vans, etc.
At least 115 of the vehicles are already broken.
Speaking to bdnews24.com, the chief of a police station in Dhaka shared his embarrassing experiences about their vehicles.
“Once I was on VIP duty [escorting a VIP], but had to leave the convoy as our car was too slow. Now, had the convoy met with an accident in the area under my jurisdiction, I would have been blamed. But in reality, I wasn't responsible for that," said the police officer who declined to be identified.
Turag Police Station has five patrol cars and three of them are rundown. The other two are in usable condition.
“We need vehicles that can run fast when we’re on duty in the BeriBadh area. This is because most of the criminals tend to flee the scene quickly riding motorcycles in this area,” said Moudut Halder, chief of the police station.
In other parts of Bangladesh, police are still using 20 to 30 years old vehicles, most of whom are almost inoperable and running with their fitness certificate expired long ago.
The Police Headquarters said they bought 1,017 vehicles in the last three fiscal years. This included 665 motorcycles.
Altogether, Bangladesh police have 11,923 vehicles, inc;uding 6,445 motorbikes.
Police halted their purchases in 2022-23 and 2023-24 fiscal years but now received approvals to buy 200 double-cabin pickup trucks with the general election nearing, according to a purchase report of the force.
Still, they lack 4,529 vehicles, considering the size of the workforce, the report said.
Hence, more than a hundred officers who got promoted to superintendents of police, additional deputy inspectors general, and deputy inspectors general were not allocated any transport due to a shortage of SUVs.
Transport shortage compels police officers to rent vehicles for conducting raids sometimes.
They also use requisitioned transports to patrol the area under their jurisdiction and keep the crimes under control.
Police patrolling an area using a Laguna, a locally made small passenger vehicle, under requisition and without a fitness certificate is a common sight in Dhaka.
When asked how the police force was operating with the existing lack of transports, DIG (Operation) Anwar Hossain said they already wrote to the government for purchasing more vehicles or increasing the number of vehicles by other means.
“We’re also working to find out other solutions. We’re focusing on the maintenance of the
existing vehicles. We need to keep working by repairing the existing ones.”
Asked how the force will manage the situation with inadequate transports if political violence escalates during the upcoming general election, he said: “It is not our duty to suppress political activities, but crimes.”
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan acknowledged the lack of vehicles for police.
“It’s true that police do not have an adequate number of vehicles and we need more of them. But the government is trying its best to upgrade [the force]. It is taking all initiatives to develop the force.”
The minister hoped the crisis would end gradually.
[Writing in English by Sabrina Karim Murshed; editing by Osham-ul-Sufian Talukder]