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Financial Express.bd - Banglad
31 March 2007

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Bangladesh: The contents of co

By: Mohammed Hossain

FEW weeks ago, this scribe had written an article under the heading of 'police and ethics' and in that article the emphasis was given on the need for developing code of polic ethics and some other relevant issues. Here, some examples will be given about the contents of code of police ethics so that the relevant authority must take these contents in preparing code of police ethics. In the personal opinion of this scribe as well as in accordance with international best practices, there should be seven key areas of code of ethics. These are i.) general obligation; ii.) guidelines for police actions; iii.) guidelines during arrest and detention by the police; iv.) guidelines during preliminary investigates; v.) helping the citizens; vi.) the police officer as a public servant; and vii.) declaration.
General obligation: To whom and to what and to how the police personnel will perform his duties should cover under the general obligation category. There should be given a general understanding of the obligations of police personnel. For example, the police personnel "Shall act, while carrying out its duties, guided by the principles of legitimacy, proportionality, leniency, good public governance, non-discrimination and respect of people's diversity". This type of code can be added under general obligation catergory.
Guidelines for police actions: We can provide various guidelines in this case. However, two important guidelines need to be added. For example, the police personnel "Shall respect the every person's right to life and security. Police does not inflict, instigate or tolerate acts of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and reports cases of violations of human rights", and also "Police personnel shall respect confidentiality as far as top secret incidents or information are concerned, as well as in case of incidents or information obtained while on duty or due to their police status, either these concern police matters or they refer to the private and family life and in general to personal matters of citizens, unless lifting of confidentiality is permitted by law."
Guidelines during arrest and detention by the police: It is an important content of code of ethics. We should care about the best possible guidelines under this category. This scribe holds the view that the theme of this guidelines should be "Police personnel shall proceed to the arrest of persons as provided for by the Constitution and law. The arrest shall be conducted in a cautious and consistent way, the police personnel must behave correctly and omit any action that can insult the honour and pride of the arrested person and in general insult the dignity of a person. Police must use force only when absolutely necessary and shall restrain the arrested person only when the last one reacts violently or is suspect of escaping".
Guidelines during preliminary investigate: Another important content of code of ethics is the role of police personnel investigation. In this case, two important issues must be added. For example, "Police personnel shall respect the presumption of innocence of the person accused and is obliged to secure all his / her rights. Everyone accused has the right to be informed promptly of the accusation against him / her and to prepare his / her defence, in particular through legal assistance of his / her counsel" and secondly, "police personnel shall act according to domestic law during inspection and every kind of search, showing special care and decency and avoiding any publicity. In particular, police shall make sure that during body and home searches the personality and private life of the persons involved are respected and that any disturbance not necessary is avoided".
Helping the citizens: The role of police personnel must be polite and friendly. Among the police personnel's duties are the protection of citizen's rights and the creation of the conditions under which helping out the public in a quick, unhampered and easy way can be possible. Therefore, police shall also improve the relations between police and citizens. The particular code, as this scribe deems it necessary to state, is "police personnel shall immediately examine citizen's requests that relate to offences and incidents of police interest and offer their legal assistance without any delay".
The police officer as a public servant: The police officer will act as public servant and simultaneously has the same rights with the rest of the citizens with the exceptions provided for by the Constitution and law. Therefore an important code is being suggested "police personnel shall follow the commands of his / her superiors and is accountable for any action or omission committed. The police officer is personally responsible for his / her actions or omissions and may also be held responsible for carrying out illegal or anti-constitutional orders".
Declaration: When performing duties it is assumed that police personnel by nature of work/duty accepts the following Declaration: ''I declare that I shall respect every person's human value and defend human rights. I have the great honour to serve the Bangladesh people by exercising police power trusted upon me according to the Constitution and law. I assume my obligations and accept the dangers of my profession and declare that I shall work with impartiality and render justice for the shake of society. I shall constantly try to improve my behaviour as a responsible public servant, I accept the social control of my actions and I intend to be supported by the public''. This kind of code of ethics must be included at the formulation of code of ethics of police in Bangladesh.
This scribe understands that the above mentioned ideas, in his personal view, in respect of code of police ethics will obviously help the concerned authorities in preparing a full set of code of police ethics in Bangladesh. If we can implement and follow the same, it will bring about in the long run a positive changes in our society and will build confidence to the various stake holders of the country. And then we will have very good faith in the efficiency of over police personnel.
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The writer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Accounting and Information Science at the Islamic University, Kushtia, Bangladesh and is now doing PhD at the School of Management of the University of Liverpool, UK.

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Financial Express.bd - Banglad31 March 2007

Bangladesh: The contents of co

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Financial Express.bd - Banglad
31 March 2007