Dhaka, April 18 – Inspector General of Police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed on Saturday asked his officials to implement lockdown properly, keeping people’s movements restricted except in urgent need as it has been effective in various places of the country to prevent coronavirus outbreak. Besides, he also gave an order to enhance intelligence surveillance to play a role in any irregularities in the government’s relief distribution as well as the sale of rice under Open Market Sale (OMS) programme.
The IGP has given the directives to the senior police officers of all police ranges, metropolitan and special units while addressing a video conference on Saturday at noon.
He said the police have to stay beside people. “Human beings cannot be treated badly, they cannot be physically abused. We have to treat people humanely,” he added.
The IGP said that in order to maintain social distance, kitchen markets have to be set up in open space or on footpaths keeping the arrangement of one-way movement so that a distance of at least 20 feet is maintained. Chatting at tea stalls needs to be controlled, he added.
He said that market monitoring has to be done in coordination with the district’s Deputy Commissioner and local administration so that no one can stock or raise prices. The transport of essential commodities should be kept normal, he added.
Benazir Ahmed also asked the police officials to work for the welfare of the force.”In the case of coronavirus infection, the highest importance must be given to the treatment of any policeman who is ill.”
Referring to the horrors of drugs, the IGP said, “We do not want to see drugs in Bangladesh anymore. We are committed to building a free Bangladesh.”
The IGP said new crime trends are being noticed in the present situation. In addition, there has been an increase in the trend of robbery and theft in some places. Appropriate measures must be taken to stop this. Cybercrime, economic crime, etc must be stopped. Fake news, rumours have to be stopped, he added.
“We want to build a corruption-free police administration,” he said, giving warning that if any policeman is involved with illegal income, he must come out.
Emphasizing on team spirit, the IGP said that team spirit will be the basis of police. “Policemen have to work in teams,” he said.
“We want to build the police as technology-dependent, modern and smart force,” he said.
Senior police officers attended the video conference. – UNB
