Every police department in the country is involved in community relations or police-community interaction. In fact, the police department is a service organization, and its service involves a direct interaction with the community it serves. In addition to this, in Bangladesh police, community policing is an organization with the aims of promoting community, government and police partnerships, proactive problem solving, and commu-nity engagement to address the causes of crime, fear of crime and community issues (Ahamed et al., 2019). Eventually Bangladesh Police have been trying to execute this philosophy nationwide through certain dimensions viz., the Police Reform Program (PRP), a UNDP funded project, has been providing Bangladesh Police with technical assistance to implement commu-nity-policing nationwide.

Concept of Community Policing 

Community policing seems best understood as a range of specific techniques that the police and the public use to work in partnership at a local level. So it makes sense here that, community policing is a micro-level concept. It is an actual effort to promote community justice and social control by mobilizing social resources within an identifiable group of populace. John Alderson has for many years been an eloquent advocate for community policing. For Alderson, a social contract between police and people provides the basis for community policing (Alderson, 1979, 1998: 131-2). Actually community policing is about preventing crime, reducing fear of crime and reinforcing trust in local neighborhoods. According to John Alderson:

“The community police organization provides the root for the sound growth of effective policing. The trunk and branches represent more familiar police functions of emergency patrols, public order maintenance and criminal investigation... The public, perceiving that the police care for and respect their own group and culture, are encouraged to- and if given information and trust will- help the police to achieve their goals. It is important that the simple formula of community policing becomes part of the police culture and of their general understanding.”

Community policing represents the most serious and sustained attempt to reformulate the rationale and practices of policing since the development of the ‘professional police model in the early 20th Century (Bayley, 2002, 1994: 104). However, John Alderson also points to the problems of getting agreement about an exact definition of community policing, despite the huge amount of study to which it has been subjected by scholars and researchers (Bayley, 2002, 1994: 105). When police departments take the challenge of crime prevention seriously enough that they begin to break with the practices of the past and four elements recur again and again i.e., consultation, adaption, mobilization and problem solving which are very important part for a quality policing ever. According to Bayley, 

“The phrase ‘community policing has more popular appeal than ‘problem-oriented policing. It sounds less technical and friendlier. On the other hand, ‘problem oriented- policing draws attention to the programmatic implications of policing for improving crime prevention; it concentrates attention on concrete activities that police need to undertake. Since community policing and problem-oriented policing cannot be untangled in practice, I prefer to use the more resonant phrase ‘community policing but to insist that community policing be understood to include problem solving.”

If the philosophy of community policing been observed then it focuses that the police and sheriffs departments-the local police cannot separate them-selves from the communities they serve that community policing must involve the community (Thomas F. Adams, 1998, 423). 

So it is very clear that they are inseparable. Here Policing problems are community problems as well. So, all problem-solving efforts must be made as a cooperative effort including the various segments of the communities. We say “communities” within this because there are actually many within one city or county. We have the minority community, the business community, the academic community, the neighbor-hood communities, and so forth. The professional model of policing held the police aloof from the public to create a certain element of mystery to the police operations (Thomas F. Adams, 1998, 423). So the concept of community policing is to involve the people in every certain district or area in addressing certain problems for assuring quality policing.

So finally, the idea of ‘community policing, therefore, although it has a great many benefits, will only take a certain amount of weigh. Properly understood, it is an approach that depends on the willingness of the professional police to renounce some of their power (Alan Wright, 2002, 147). Generally it is not only depends on the ability of the public to participate in the development of justice within their communities but also depends upon attempts to develop shared values between police and public. Indeed, this is necessary to overcome the ‘disciplinary aspects of the relationship between police and the community. Here the degree of public participation will in turn depend upon the extent to which social, political and economic conditions have developed to make it possible. Society however, may need to retain some aspect of the disciplinary element to deal with some kinds of crime and disputes between cultures and communities also. Policing practice is not just a matter of adopting community policing, however well operationalised it may be in terms of crime prevention and negotiating activities. What is required is a better understanding of the relationship between the different modes of policing practice and the actual circum-stances in the working environment. So for the sake of assuring quality policing, this requires more of a strategic approach to the problems implied by diversity than one based upon a doctrinaire acceptance of community policing (Alan Wright, 2002, 148).

2. SIGNIFICANCE OF COMMUNITY POLICING

A bundle of sticks is stronger than a single stick i.e., a concerted effort of some persons is more effective than an individuals endeavor. Accordingly, only the sincere and concerted effort active participation of the citizens can bring a significant progress and positive changes in a community (AKM Shahidul Hoque BPM PPM, 2013, 40). Community policing is a practical philoso-phy of policing in action aiming at strengthening trust and confidence in the police through a democratic process. In this policing system, ‘police are viewed as a part of the community playing major role for the achievement of safety and security of the community. It is a joint process in which both police and community people work together for the creation of a safe secured environment of the neighborhood. The Community Policing is both a philosophy and an organizational strategy that permits the police and the community residents to work closely together in new ways to solve the problems of crime, fear of crime, physical and social disorder and neighborhood-decay (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 71). In fact this philosophy rests on the belief that law abiding people in the community deserves input into the police process in exchange of their participation and support. It envisages that solutions to contemporary commu-nity-problems demand freeing both people and the police to explore creative new ways to address the neighborhood-concerns beyond a narrow focus on individual crime incidents. The organizational strategy of community policing on the other hand demands that everyone in the department including both civilian and sworn personnel must find ways to interpret the philosophy into practice.

It is indisputable that in the arena of modern community policing, the Nine Principles of Policing kept unchangeable history of a quality community policing. Because the Nine Principles of Policing were developed by Sir Robert Peel to better guide the London Metropolitan Police Force in conducting their official duties. In 1901, W.L. Melville Lee wrote a wonderful book titled, A History of Police in Eng-land. What made this such a wonderful book was that within its pages, Lee preserved the 9 Principles of Policing by Sir Robert Peel in their original form. These nine principles had been adopted by Sir Robert Peel because he believed that the use of soldiers for policing was not a good idea in a Democratic society. Although he recognized the need for a police agency to use the ranks, uniforms, and chain of command of the military, he felt that there needed to be a very different set of guiding principles. In support of that ideology, Peel developed the guiding principles which bear his name and adorn police departments around the world. The nine principles developed by Sir Robert Peel have endured time and form the foundation for police globally. Following are the nine principles of policing as developed by Sir Robert Peel and adopted by the first modern police force, the London Metropolitan Police, in 1829. According to Sir Robert Peel from his 9 principles,

“The police at all times should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police; the police are the only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interest of the community welfare.”

Whether Sir Robert Peel was correct in his reasoning with these nine principles is a subject for another time, but one thing is certain: The principles of Sir Robert Peel formed the foundation for modern policing which endures today. Students around the world study and examine these and all owe a debt to W. L. Melville Lee for preserving them for posterity. In an era when law enforcement agencies grapple with the need to be more aggressive (meeting force with force), keeping these principles in mind can serve to help them balance their mission with the public good. Peel believed that police were not soldiers at odds with the public, but were part of the public itself. These ideals demonstrate this and can soundly guide any law enforcement officer today. So it is such a conception in respect of community policing that the ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon the public approval of police actions.

It is a fact that with the continuous rise in the population growth particularly in the developing countries of the world the crime-frequency also increases rapidly. The traditional policing system in this situation finds it hard to put appropriate efforts to make sure of a safe and secured environment in the neighborhood. For effectiveness, traditional and community policing system should work in closed partnership. The traditional and community policing system are not contradictory but complementary to each other. It would now be fair to take a look on the underlying differences of the concept between the traditional policing and community policing from the Table 1 (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 71-72) ment-ioned here below -

Table 1: Differences of the Concept between the Traditional Policing and the Community Policing.

From the above tabular details it is apparently clear to mention that Community Policing is a policy and a strategy aimed at achieving more effective and efficient crime control, reducing fear of crime, improving quality of life, developing police service and police legitimacy through a proactive reliance on community resource that seeks to change crime-causing conditions. It assumes a need for greater accountability of police, greater public participation indecision-making and greater concern for civil rights 

and liberties. Here self-policed or self-controlled communities are very much helpful in demonstrating how societies can well exist without the presence of uniformed police and function by members of the public and thus forming a strong network on informal social control. It is basically a bottom-up proactive policing system which motivates, involves and ensures the active participation of the community-ward/mahalla with the government agency i.e., police to work in partnership and mutual co-ordination in order to deal with crimes, violence and various kind of social unrest considered as community-problems (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 72).

3. OBJECTIVES OF COMMUNITY POLICING

The police department must have a set of workable, and working, community relations policies. So if the department does not have a human relations statement of philosophy (Thomas F. Adams, 1998, 430), this following one to be considered:

“The mutual advantages of a friendly relationship between the people of a community and their police force should be widely understood and more fully appreciated. The success of a police department in the performance of its duties is largely measured by the degree of support and cooperation it receives from the people it serves. It is of paramount importance, therefore, to secure for this department the confidence, respect, and approbation of the public. The cultivation of such desirable attitudes on the part of the public is dependent upon reciprocal attitudes on the part of this department. These policies are designed to enhance good public relations and [we] anticipate active participation therein by every member of the department.”

Here police officers make the community relations unit work by going into the community instead of waiting for it to come to them (Courtesy Metro Dade Police Department). This statement is based on three major premises which have been mentioned here (Thomas F. Adams, 1998, 431).

1) Firstly, the attitude of the people in the community is affected by the degree of efficiency demonstrated by their police officers in the performance of their duties.

2) Secondly, there must be a mutual understanding between the people of all backgrounds and ethnic origins and the officers who comprise their police department , and

3) Thirdly, there must be a continuous, free flow of information about the activities of the police department to the public through the news media. The information must be honest and frank in order to ensure the objectives of community policing.

So the key mission of community police is to patrol its jurisdiction using its units as base taking primary measures to incidents and accidents when there is an emergency call. However, it would not be adequate only to concentrate its focus merely on patrolling and crime detection initiating measures but also needs to devote best efforts to provide quality police service to local residents in all spheres. In order to achieve this mission, the community police are to prioritize the opinion and suggestions of the community members by maintaining good relationship with them and thereby conduct police operation in partnership with community organizations based on perceived needs of the local community (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 73). Now the question is whether do we need an Organized Community Policing System in Bangla-desh? In the context of the following grounds the answer is obviously ‘yes:

a) Law & order and crime scenario.

b) To maintain relationship with citizens, media and other organizations.

c) To strengthen the policing to effectively address the community-concerns.

The community policing is deemed significant in Bangladesh in-terms of the following perspectives:

a. From the perspective of the police there is a growing need to improve ties with the community for the purpose of:

1. Relying on more community resource to assist police in crime control efforts and in reducing levels of crime-fear in the population,

2. Improving police bases for intelligence gathering,

3. Increasing police legitimacy within the community.

b. From the perspective of the community there is a growing recognition that it deserves and should receive:

1. Improve police services,

2. Wider police accountability,

3. Increased power sharing in policy within the community.

c. From the perspectives of both community and police, community policing assumes that:

1. Crime control needs to focus on those social factors which have relatively little control,

2. Crime control needs to focus on those social factors which have cause crime,

3. Proactive policing needs to be added to and in some instances replace reactive policing,

4. Better focus on ‘quality of life issues that exceed crime and fear of crime need to be attended to in addition to ‘traditional crime issues,

5. Greater consideration for civil rights and liberties and essential for successful democratic policing.

In this connection, it would not be out of place to mention that for Bangladesh the community policing should have the following commitments (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 73-74):

a) To contribute towards liberty, equality and fraternity in human affairs.

b) To help reconcile freedom with security and uphold the rule of law.

c) To facilitate human dignity through upholding and protecting human rights and the pursuit of happiness.

d) To provide leadership and participation in dispelling crimogenic social conditions through co-operative social action.

e) To contribute towards the creation or reinforcement of trust in communities.

f) To strengthen the security of persons and property and the feeling of security of persons.

g) To investigate, detect and activate the prosecution of offences within the rule of law.

h) To facilitate free passage and movement on highways/roads/streets avenues etc open to public passage.

i) To curb public disorder.

j) To deal with major and minor crisis and to help and the distressed where necessary activating other agencies.

a. To maximize Community-welfare updating the outlook.

b. To initiate measures to create awareness and to participate in the welfare-oriented acti-vities of the Community.

c. To patrol Mahalla and Ward regularly.

d. To make careful observation on the movement of criminals and strangers.

e. To initiate spot-measures to deal with the crimes.

f. To help-serve the notices issued by Police Station and the Court.

g. To keep police station constantly informed everything about crimes.

After a critical discussion of the objectives of Community Policing mentioned above, can be of no use until or unless the law enforcement agent i.e., the Bangladesh Police abide by the certain provisions of the Police Regulations of Bengal, 1943. According to PRB Rule: 13-34 is very important to make the police understood the philosophy and direction how the concept and the objectives of community policing may be ensured maintaining the relations of police officers with other servants of the Crown, local authorities and the public along with local respectable and influential people of course without being prejudiced and biased. Such tactics have been followed as because of keeping peace and security in the society, not beyond of the law and order situation. In fact, this philosophy has been consistently applied for deforming the deve-lopment of unpredictable severe unrest situation among the local common people that may eventually lead to an incontrollable mob and cause a great harm to the society (Dr. Khandaker Mohammad Musfiqul Huda, January 2015, 18). The following category of people to whom the law enforcers should keep good relations with:-

a) Local Professional Leaders; and Local Religious Leaders of all beliefs;

b) Local Business Leaders; and Local Political Leaders of all ideologies;

c) Local Leaders of all tribunal groups; and 

d) Local Ex-Ministers, Ex-Deputy Ministers, Ex-State Ministers;

e) All present and past parliamentarians of that locality;

f) All present and past Chairmen/Vice Chairmen of that local government;

g) All present and past members of local government;

h) Retired government senior officials of that locality;

i) Retired senior police officers of that locality and so on.

Therefore the common people are ethically and practically moved by the ideologies of these people mentioned above as they play vital role in shaping and developing the trends, cultures and ideologies of the local common people through their personality and influence too. It is simply a dangerous thing for the law enforcers to act against the ideologies as propagated by the locally influential and respectable people and there the law enforcers may find themselves helpless when any attempt to disregard the ideologies of the local people is good enough to instigate utter restlessness. Actually this is a com-munity based policing approach and this approach is always helpful without any doubt (Dr. Khandaker Mohammad Musfiqul Huda, January 2015, 18-19). Finally, it is to be noted that the philosophy of com-munity policing requires that police be more trans-parent and open (Cara Rabe-Hemp, 2011, 135). Confi-dentiality is seen as an impediment to the police-community partnership especially in the context of quality policing. As police increase their interaction with the public, a greater trust and rapport will lessen the need for secrecy ever for ensuring a quality community policing in respect of protecting human rights in Bangladesh. 

4. POPULATION GROWTH AND COMMUNITY POLICING IN BANGLADESH

In the past decades Bangladesh had experienced a rapid growth of population which has been mentioned below: 

Table 2: Population of Bangladesh, 1901-2011 (in crore).

In addition to a rapid growth of population Bangladesh is also experiencing a widening gap between the rich and the poor. The middle class is shrinking and the gap between the “haves” and “have nots” is widening resulting in a bifurcated society. The rapid growth of population drains up the national resources, as the increase of national resources does not confirm the rapid growth of population. Besides the gap between rich and poor create social unrest and frustration among the citizens (AKM Shahidul Hoque BPM PPM, 2013, 39). 

The inequality in economic sector causes social instability and imbalance which creates criminal opportunities in the society. So, the rapid growth of population must be bridled. The police through community policing can apply a vital role to educate the people and keep the population growth under control (Fig 1). 

5. VARIOUS ORGANIZATIONS AND INSTI-TUTIONS 

Various organizations and institutions are the important entities in the society for keeping better community policing. These entities can play a vital role to ensure safety and quality of life of the citizens. Police officers must be knowledge-able of these entities and establish effective relationships with them. A strong network of community organizations and institutions gives collective exertions to foster the cohesive power of shared intolerance against crimes and criminals. It also encourages citizens to co-operate law enforcing agency in controlling crime and disorder in the society (AKM Shahidul Hoque BPM PPM, 2013, 39). Thus illegal or criminal acts, appearance and movements of criminals and other unlawful practices threatening to public security will be detected and reported to the police voluntarily by the citizens.

                     Fig 1: Statistical Growth of Population of Bangladesh from the Year of 1901-2011.

Source: Population and Housing Census, (1901-2011) BBS (Bangladesh Bureau Statistics).

It is not possible for any single organization or group to address all the problems and concerns of the community, so establishment of networks and partnerships between the police and social entities is essential (AKM Shahidul Hoque  BPM PPM, 2013, 39). Sulton says, “Community Institutions are the basic fabric from which our complex society is woven.” According to Sulton: 

“All theories of causes of crime share common threads. They assume that crime is a socially defined phenomenon caused by the failure of community institutions and community members to constrain behavior so that it conforms to the law and does not threaten the rights, safety and lives of others. According to this perspective crime reduction depends on eradication of the social conditions that produce crime.”

Police officers should maintain a good relationship with human rights organizations, social services organizations, health care providers, emergency service providers, youth organizations and all educational institutions for better community policing to remove the social ills from the society. Obtaining co-operation from the citizens is a very difficult task. But police must always be on the track of seeking public co-operation (AKM Shahidul Hoque BPM PPM, 2013, 39). They can bring problems to the attention of the other concerned agencies. John Mudd cited the example of “rat problem” as follows:

“If a rat is found in an apartment, it is the responsibility of the house owner to drive out the rat; if it runs into a restaurant, the health department has jurisdiction; if it dies outside, municipality takes over the responsibility. Getting complaints about the damages caused by rats, police will have to figure out what agency in the city has responsibility for rat control and then request the agency to take proper action to kill the rats. So if the responsibility is distributed to the shoulders of all other concerned individuals or group, the task comes easier. Police are to make co-ordination among the entities to get all problems affecting the society solved in a concerted and coordinated manner.”

Private Security Companies 

In Bangladesh, private security companies are also having the vital role through providing their sources for keeping better community policing. A dramatic expansion of private security is visible not only in our country but also all over the world in the past few years. Private security companies provide security personnel to the organizations as well as to the local body to guard an organization or specific jurisdiction of a local area. So undoubtedly it can be said that the private security companies are helping the police to prevent crime (AKM Shahidul Hoque BPM PPM, 2013, 39). In the developed countries like USA, UK, etc. private security companies are working actively to protect lives and properties of the citizens. In fact, it has also got recognition from government and people (AKM Shahidul Hoque BPM PPM, 2013, 39). The need for public and private police forces to establish good working relationships was recognized by the National Institute of Justice in the early 1980s in USA. The International Association of Chiefs of Police (ACP) has also recognized the need for co-operation by establishing a Private Sector Liaison Committee (PSLC). The PSLC paved the ways for private security to work jointly with government Police with a view to addressing concerns of the citizens and working towards solution to the problems. Now it becomes very important to build a good relationship between the private security agencies and police in order to ensuring active community policing. The government has already promulgated private security relations bringing the private security under accountability and regulatory system.

In fact, Bangladesh Police do not have positive impression on private security as they are not professionally efficient, accountable and dependable. But time has come to utilize the private security by police as an auxiliary force to add to the strength of the regular state police force ever. The collaboration of private security and public law enforcement agency is needed now for the advancement of both public safety and spreading the police networks (AKM Shahidul Hoque BPM PPM, 2013, 39).

The Power Structure - Various public and private reorganizations, institutions, associations and groups exercise the authority in various forms and ways to establish their position and domination in the society (AKM Shahidul Hoque BPM PPM, 2013, 39). These entities are termed as social power structure. Power structure may be divided into two categories namely:

1. Formal Power Structure and 

2. Informal Power Structure.

Now the mentioned power structures have been briefly stated here below one after another.

1. Formal Power Structure - The government, governments, organizations or agencies, local government regulatory bodies and commissions, elected bodies, administrative set up of government at field level are the examples of formal power structure.

2. Informal Power Structure - The informal power structure includes religious groups, wealthy sub-groups, ethnic groups, political groups, professional groups, labour groups, business groups, various social organizations, public interest groups, media, teachers, and student groups, civil society groups, and even NGOs etc. The informal power structure has a massive influence over the society. Each group of informal power structure has its own subculture. The subculture of one group influences others subcultures. Thus the informal power structure, in fact controls the whole society. The formal power structure cannot ignore the informal power structure in exercise power and authority. The informal pressure group influences the formal power structure of the society and they should maintain close relationship with these groups of power. Wilson and Kelling suggest, 

“The essence of the police role in maintaining in order to reinforce the informal control mechanisms of the community itself.”

Therefore, the police cannot provide a substitute for that informal control. Informal power structure also influences the social system by its subtle or non-subtle power (AKM Shahidul Hoque BPM PPM, 2013, 39). Though the influence of informal power structure is not visible to the common people, the law enforcement personnel must understand the different subgroups of informal force within their jurisdiction for better functioning and fruitful community policing operation.

6. COMMUNITY POLICING IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

Police in different countries got a lot of changes and reforms to cope with the changes of the societys values and structure, diversity of society, taste and attitude of the people and combat terrorist along with new dimension of crime (AKM Shahidul Hoque BPM PPM, 2013, 29). But there is a common subject which has been picked up by police all over the world-that is ‘Community Policing. It is recognized by all that without spontaneous cooperation of the community and partnership with them. Here it is difficult to ensure the safety of the people of the community by the Police alone. Being motivated to this philosophy, police emphasize on community based policing under the community policing umbrella now. But community policing is run in different ways in different countries. Now the Community Policing system and activities in few countries are discussed here below one after another (AKM Shahidul Hoque BPM PPM, 2013, 29):

India - The concept of Community Policing activities are being carried out throughout India and various initiatives involving communities have been taken in different states to reach out the benefits of community policing towards the members of the community. 

West Bengal - The concept of Community policing initiative in Kolkata, West Bengal involves the members of civil society and leaders of professional groups. Besides these they have Drug Awareness Programme in collaboration with NGOs, Counseling Centre for women, children, juveniles, elders and drug addicts manned by trained counselors and Poor Box for the emergency relief to the needy and distressed people. There is a community policing initiative named Sahayata in Nadia district. Sahayata is a Bengali word which means ‘assistance. It is such a service delivery platform where to resolve, through counseling, disputes within family and also between neighbours. In this initiative community plays vital role and police is such an active agent here only. It is not end here; other Community policing programmes are being run by police and communities in West Bengal too. 

Tamil Nadu - In Tamil Nadu in Community policing programmed named ‘The Friends of Police (FOP) is in operative. Police- public partnership is been ensured in this programme where citizens have been empowered and an ordinary citizen can contribute to the prevention and detection of crime.  Here FOP members can also prevent any abuse of police power as they have easy access to police leaders. Now the followings have been mentioned regarding the roles of FOP in Tamil Nadu:

a) Beats and night patrols  

b) Assistance in traffic management and Crime prevention

c) Information collection and Assistance in law and order maintenance

d) Involvement in probation work

The FOP initiative paved the way for the community to come closer to police for the sake of working together and this system is functioning effectively in all districts of Tamil Nadu over the last couple of years.

Assam - The Assam Police launched a community policing initiative in 2001 under the title ‘Ashwas in several districts where there is a history of ethnic or terrorist violence. The objectives of this initiative are to combat violence and insurgency and also extend supports to children and victims of crime. The campaigns under this initiative have integrated the community with the police to provide public security i.e., safety and supports to the people undergoing trauma.

Himachal Pradesh - In 2001 a community policing scheme was introduced by Himachal Pradesh Police in order to mobilize public support and involve public participation in prevention and detection of crime and maintenance of law and order. Under this scheme the jurisdiction of a police station is divided into some sectors and each sector has a peoples Policing Committee where all the household members of that sector become the members. Each sector has also an active group of six respectable persons of that locality i.e., one home guard, one chawkidar and one police constable or head constable. Here one member of the Active Group is made convener and police man is the member secretary. Now the tasks of this scheme have been mentioned here below: 

i. Visit of students of educational institute to police stations to remove fear of police from the mind of the children, give them idea about police role and function and for better understanding and awareness about police. 

ii. Building awareness among the citizens of their rights and responsibilities to the society and State. 

iii. Regular visit by Superintendant of Police and other senior police officers to the villages or area to have interaction with local communities on crime and law order situation and other social issues of public concern.

Police Assistance Centre - Generally these centers have been established at important strategic locations which attract tourists and help seeking persons and these centers introduce sense of security and protection in the minds of general public, especially tourists or strangers.

Mumbai - After the 1992-1993, Hindu-Muslims riots in Mumbai people from all walks of life came together and worked out a simple workable idea. They formed Citizen-Police Committee in each Mohalla. It is also known as Mohalla Committee or peace committee. In fact the primary task of the committee members is to maintain cordial relationship between the two communities- Hindus and Muslims. Here the members also intervene in disputes, personal or domestic, organize short meeting on a variety of programmes and maintain peace. There is a code in this committee that if trouble breaks out they negotiate with the parties for establishing peace.

There are other states that have community policing of their own system which have been mentioned here below:

Japan - From the history, Japan was ruled by a succession of ‘shoguns (military dictators) until the revolution of 1867-68 (AKM Shahidul Hoque BPM PPM, 2013, 30). The rule of shoguns was termed as ‘shogunate (military dictatorship) and the period of shogunate was called Edo period i.e., capital or the largest city which is also considered as economic and cultural centre. With the end of shogunate the Meiji Restoration began by Meiji Tenno. The emperor of Japan who encouraged the modernizations of Japan. In the modernization period the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department was established in 1874. In that year ‘kobansho were set up at major intersections and other important locations in Tokyo. 

Kobansho is such a designated place where policemen engage themselves in standing watch duties in shifts later on boxes were built at few major Kobansho locations. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police decided to provide all Kobansho with boxes and their name was changed to ‘Hashutsujo (Police Box) in 1881. And yes that was the beginning of todays police system. Subsequently the police box system spread to other prefectures (districts). One police station for one county or city was established by an imperial order in 1886, and the police station was located at the headquarters of the city or decided to set up ‘Chuzaishu i.e., residential police box in every town and village in principle (AKM Shahidul Hoque BPM PPM, 2013, 30).

With the setting up of ‘Chuzaishu police officers had been deployed throughout Japan in rural areas to facilitate the people to get police services at their close doors ever. The Japanese formal name for police box is Hashutsujo and the nick name Koban is widely used by the residents of the community. In fact the formal name of police box also became Koban in 1994. Actually Koban and Chuzaisu are the symbol of community policing in Japan. To make it more clear that the officers posted to Koban and Chuzaisu are known as community police officers. About 6500 Koban and 7600 Chuzaisu are there in Japan where about 2,50,000 police officers are posted all over the country. Generally officers of junior ranks such as Assistant Police Inspector, Police Sergeant or below are posted to Koban and Chuzaisu. Here all newly recruited officers are first deployed at Koban or Chuzaine after their basic training at prefectural police school (AKM Shahidul Hoque BPM PPM, 2013, 30). The police officers posted to police boxes (Koban for large city and Chuzaisu for small town or village) get engaged in community policing activities along with normal crime prevention policing. Now the followings are the major duties and activities of the officers posted at Koban and Chuzaisu as community police officers (AKM Shahidul Hoque BPM PPM, 2013, 30):

Watch duty by Koban officers - Basically Watch duty is performed by an officer of Koban for round the clock on shifting basis. Standing watch is performed by the officer in front of the Koban and some keep them on sitting watch duty inside of the Koban. Officer on watch duty and other officers present in the Koban in order to receive the residents or visitors who visit Koban with complaints or reports such as lost and found property, occurrence of crime, traffic accident etc. The Koban officers take immediate necessary action on receiving complaints or reports from residents accordingly.

Patrol duty - Generally Patrols by Koban officers by vehicle or bicycle or on foot are conducted in the jurisdiction area of Koban. Patrols by uniform police officers from Koban have very important role and impacts as it shows presence of police officers in the locality. Police patrol also prevents crimes, pave opportunity to have interaction with members of communities and gives community residents sense of security.

First response to crimes and accidents - It is the Koban officers who usually first visit the place of occurrence or crime scene getting information or command from higher authority. The officers who have first, arrived at the crime scene report on the situation to police station and communication command centre (Police Control Room). In case of heinous or felonious crime community police officers are always vigilance to take immediate necessary lawful action such as deployment of more officers, preserve crime scene, protecting evidences and arrest suspects if found nearby the scene. Later on the case is headed over to specialized police team.

House visit and community liaison - Usually the officers from Koban pay regular visit to local residents to have interactions with members of communities. Door to door visit helps police to maintain good relationship with the community and get overall picture about the actual situation of the locality. Beside theses the community police officers also get public reaction about police performance. Not only they give security, safety and crime prevention tips to the residents but also the visiting officer distributes ‘visit card to the residents and requests to fill it up with required information for the purpose of ensuring quality community policing.

View Exchange meeting - View exchange meeting is a very accountable part relating to the conception of ensuring quality community policing in this regards. Accordingly the koban officers hold view exchange meeting with the members of the communities very often. In the meeting they discuss issues relating to public safety, law & order and crimes. They get suggestions from the community about policing and public safety and the officers seek co-operation from the communities to discharge their duty and provide satisfactory service to the people and crime prevention. It is to be noted that the Koban officers keep police stations update with latest situations of the area and the advice, suggestions and public reaction they gather through interaction with the communities. The police station takes necessary steps to address the issues relating to public safety and crime prevention on the basis of reports given by the Koban officers. So the history and emergence of Community Policing in different countries have been briefly stated above. It is really a very burning example for the contemporary conception of Community Policing ever.

7. PRESENT STATUS OF COMMUNITY POLIC-ING SYSTEM IN BANGLADESH

In Bangladesh it is undeniable that the density of population is too high and the rate of annual population growth ground too (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 74). The number of crimes increases non-stop with the rapid expansion of urban area simultaneous increase in population growth. So, it is quite tough for traditional police to effectively deal with the crime for facilities and resource constraints. It is not that community policing is non-existent in Bangladesh. Of course, there is community policing system in each Mahalla/Ward comprising Chaukidars (He is a person employed by the Ministry of Local Government to perform watch and ward duties during night and to act as an informer of local police station about the crime including other happenings of Mahalla/Ward) and Dafadars but in a shattered and orthodoxical form. As per the Village Chaukidari Act, 1970 and the subsequent Chaukidari Manual and the Village self Government Act, 1919, both Chaukidars and Dafadars had some responsibilities and duties to discharge. 

Under Section 23 (1) of the Village Self Government Act, 1919 every Chaukidar was bound to provide information to the officer in-charge of the police station about every un-natural, suspicious or sudden death which might occur in the area and also keep the police informed of all disputes likely to bring a riot or serious affray as per rule 364 of the Police Regulation of Bangladesh (PRB). In rules 369 and 370 of the PRB, there are provisions for holding Chaukidari parades for obtaining information which are as follows (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 74-75):

i) Births, Deaths, Epidemics and Obstruction to telegraph wires

ii) Injury survey pillars, swindlers or criminal tribes in their villages

iii) The arrival of foreigners, swindlers or criminal tribes in their villages

iv) Movements of bad characters 

v) Visits of suspicious persons or registered bad characters to their villages

vi) Persons suspected of cattle poisoning and Loss of straying of cattle

vii) The arrival of bay suspicious boats and The existence of any dispute likely to lead to a breach of peace

viii) Encroachment on and injuries to public roads and 

ix) Any other matter regarding which the officer holding the parade may wish or have been ordered to obtain information.

There is no doubt that the Community Policing System now prevailing in the Mahalla/Ward comprising Chaukidars & Dafadars (Village Police) is poorly organized. Its key reasons are manifold e.g., dual bossing system, job-insecurity and facility constraints etc. Village Police who are representing Government up to village level to prevent crime are all ill paid and disorganized (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 75). They are the part-time employees of the Government through Thana Nirbahi Officer (TNO) and the rest half are taken from Union Parishad (UP) and as such they are made liable to show loyalty to both of them i.e., TNO & UP Chairman at a time. On the other hand, they also need to report to the officer in-charge of the police station about community crimes, movement of criminals, concerns of the community including other catastrophic information etc. as per the provision of PRB. Besides, as per Union Parishad Manual namely “The local Government (Union Parishads)  Ordinance 1983” Village police are to remain obligated to concentrate their major focus towards Union Parishad and as such they cannot afford to devote full concentration to their duties and responsibilities entrusted upon them for triangular bossing system (Thana Police Officer, Local Union Parishad administration & Thana Nirbahi Officer). In order to prevent crime in the urban areas, Towns Defense Party (TDP) has been reorganized since 1992 in some of the towns and shopping complexes of the city. The TDP discharges some responsibilities like patrolling and area guarding in a particular spot of the community especially during night. This TDP is now viewed as community policing organ of urban area, which has a formal committee having close liaison with the nearest police station and police out post to run its function. 

The entire financial expense of TDP is borne by the community itself by way of raising subscription from the community people. In a few of the towns such community-policing proved effective. The towns where community policing exists in the form of TDP are Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Chandpur and in some areas of Dhaka city. Since the crime increased enormously in these towns the community people had no other option but to accept it making monthly financial contribution. But this model has not been welcomed by the people of the other towns/localities as they were reluctant to make financial contribution to defray the expenses of TDP members (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 75-76). On the other hand, the conditions of the Chaukidars & Dafadars is miserable for irregular payment of salary, part time job system, non-existent of recruitment rules, poor health condition and triangular bossing system.

The existing structure and functions of community policing prevailing in Bangladesh needs to be more well reorganized. What is now lacking in Bangladesh is the strategic planning and desire to implement the appropriate community policing system in its true sense. It is however, believed that community policing is quite feasible in Bangladesh and to implement it here we need to bring some modifications and basic structural changes in its system and operations (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 76). It is to be noted that our Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called for strengthening the programmes of community policing to build a safe and peaceful society and said the police have to nurture democratic values and be friendly towards people. The Prime Minister also laid importance on modernization of the police to cope with the emerging challenges of security and crime caused by technological innovation and rapid global changes in the occasion of inaugurating the Police Week-2017 at Rajarbagh Police Lines in the capital on 23 January 2017 (The Daily Star, January 24, 2017: 3).

 Fig 2: A Conceptual Framework of Community Policing in Bangladesh.

8. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF COMMUN-ITY POLICING IN BANGLADESH

For the development of Bangladesh Community Policing, a conceptual frame work of community policing in Bangladesh has been showed (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 76) in the Fig 2.

The mission statement of the above proposed community policing in Bangladesh would be to ensure the safety and peace of community residents initiating immediate measures as an integrated action taken by the police with the help of the community. The theme of such integrated action should compromise the followings (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 76):

a. Instead of concentrating focus on crimes and crime detection it should have its attention towards crime prevention, social unrest and disorder which may induce crime in the society.

b. Not only dealing with criminals (e.g., arrest and send for prosecution), but also to interact with the nature, pattern and underlying causes of crime.

c. Formation of different community policing committees (CPCs) in order to ensure the involvement of other departments e.g., Ansar, VDP, etc.; institutions e.g., union council, educational institutions etc. and existing and newly created community based organizations to work for crime prevention and maintaining in the community.

To make the community policing more effective and ensuring quality community policing in Bangladesh its organization need to be re-modeled based on the following structures both in urban and rural area (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 77): For each union of the upazilla and ward of the municipality there would be nine Chaukidars and three Dafadars to discharge some key duties and responsibilities which are as follows:

1. To patrol the locality especially during night to prevent dacoity, robbery, burglary, theft, extortion, killing and other crimes.

2. To provide assistance to local police in locating the residence of criminals and warrantee.

3. To assist police officers providing information about the crimes and criminals, strangers and activities of questionable person.

4. To detect and detain drug peddlers, abuser and trafficker.

5. To patrol during daytime in the school/college area to prevent teasing of girls by eve teasers/Romeos.

6. To patrol in bus stand, rail station and launch terminal to protect passengers from harassment by wrongdoers.

7. To control unsocial elements with the help of local leader and police.

8. To provide others social service such as guiding travelers, locating resident of the criminals/wrongdoers, guarding religious, cultural & social functions and other welfare oriented services etc.

For each union of upazilla and ward of municipality there should be one Community Police Officer (CPO) with the rank of Sub-Inspector of Police (SI)/Sergeant of Police (Sgt)/ Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police (ASI) who would maintain direct link between the police and the community people for providing solution to the local concern involving crimes and disorders (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 77).

a. The CPOs broad role demand continuous and sustained contact with the inhabitants of the union/ward. He will be responsible for preparing primary report for the police authority for any crime through investigation with the help of the local people for appropriate action. The CPO will visit the locality everyday positively. 

b. There will be a team in each Ward/Mahalla comprising of local elites in which U.P member/Ward Commissioner/ Local leader would be its Team Leader.

c. The tenure of this committee would be similar to that of Union Parishad/ Municipality.

d. It (committee) will sit for discussion at least once in a week to find ways to address the problems faced by the local people.

e. It (committee) will apprise the CPO who will co-ordinate with the concern authority of everything for further assistance.

f. The CPO will co-ordinate with the UP member and the local ward commissioners to address the problems faced by the inhabitants of the community (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 78).

g. TDP and village police (Chaukidars and Dafadras) shall have a separate recruitment/ service rule and separate pay scale to ensure the job security.

h. The monthly salary should be disbursed from the government treasury through the Ministry of Home Affairs instead of the Ministry of Local Government to get the triangular bossing system abandoned.

i. All members of the locality would deposit Chaukidari tax in the government treasury instead of the Union Parishad so that Government can disburse the monthly salary to them at a time.

j. To ensure accountability and transparency, CPO and OC of the Police station should have the authority to evaluate, assess and review the performance of Chaukidars and Dafadars weekly.

k. In addition, the senior officials will closely supervise the weekly activities of the CPO, local committee including Chaukidars and Dafadars and would provide appropriate guidelines/ suggestions to mend the lapses, if any (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 78).

To help coordinate the functions of the community there would be a working-model, the conceptual frame work of which is as follows (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 78):

Fig 3: Chain of Networks.

DC- Deputy Commissioner of Districts.

SP- Superintendent of Police of Districts.

TNO- Thana Nirbahi Officer.

TPO- Thana Police Officer.

OC- Officer in-charge of Police Stations.

CPO- Community Police Officer.

Therefore, if the functions of each community are run through the network system shown in the above conceptual framework it is certain that each Ward/Mahalla will succeed in achieving the mission. In order to uphold the development for ensuring sound community policing system in Bangladesh what would be needed is to have effective initiatives including ways of consulting communities supported by a series of community policing awareness seminars and discussion sessions. What is important is the designing of a strategy to develop community oriented policing and development of a training program to support the process, which can then be delivered to all police staff and members of the community. 

The main focus of the initial training program will be to update the wisdom, skill and understanding of the key role players (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 79). There should be two basic strategies namely (a) Formation of a Steering Group (b) Designing Training Program for the awareness on community policing and its implementation. Steering Group: this steering Group will plan the strategy for the development and implementation of community policing with the focus on the following matters (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 79):

i. Existing structures to support community policing involving police and community representatives and government officials,

ii. Analysis of problems and assessment of information through consultation with key stakeholders, police and community,

iii. Identification of options and an implementation strategy for the way ahead including a training program,

iv. Evaluation methods to ascertain transfer of post training wisdom to the workplace.

Designing Training Program for the Awareness on Community Policing and Its Implementation:

Based on discussions a training program will be designed covering the following areas (Md. Nurul Alam, et al., 2001, 79-80):

a. The Legal Framework for Community Policing, and International Experience,

b. Human Rights and Responsibilities,

c. Practical Implications of Community Policing including the development of skill,

d. Problem Solving, and Partnership Working (Multi-Agency networking and effective team building),

e. Resourcing (Mobilization of appropriate resources within the community),

f. Victim Support, and Policing Diversity,

g. Preparation of personal and team action plans incorporating mechanisms for Review and Assessment of progress. 

This paper has attempted to prove the concept of community policing much effective in most of the developed countries of the world. In fact, it is equally significant in Bangladesh too. In addition to this, the community policing system of developed countries cannot be replicated in Bangladesh as it would be too expensive. The village policing system comprising Chaukidars and Dafadars had been prevailing in Bangladesh since long past if gets organized properly based on the suggestions put forward herein, the service of the traditional police would be improved to a greater extent which will be tremendously useful to build up trouble free community in the long run and it is only possible on condition that whenever is discussed in this study has been considered and taken the proactive strategy after supervision of other developed countries community policing for the sake of actual development and establishment of a quality community policing ever in Bangladesh. Finally, this paper confirmed the universal concept that “the Police are the Public, the Public are the Police,” in the context of community policing in a developing country like Bangladesh.

This study was supported with proper supervision and help of Professor Dr. M. Anisur Rahman, Department of Law, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh.

The author declared no prospective conflicts of the interest with respect to the research work.