Editorial
Hi-tech monitoring system for DMP
Motivation is the key for police to deliver
DHAKA Metropolitan Police (DMP)'s modernisation has long been overdue. As the city is growing at a breakneck speed, so is the incidence of crimes and snarl-ups increasing at the numberless road junctions. Naturally the city police were at their wits' end to fight crime and ease movement of traffic with their limited manpower and technical resources.
Now that the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) is set to have a sophisticated monitoring system, dubbed Command, Control and Communication System or C3S, equipped with closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) at the major crime points in the city, dot matrix display at the road intersections and an advanced telecommunication network at central control to make one-to-one contact with the on-duty police anywhere within the metropolitan area, it is hoped the DMP will be able to deliver better service than before.
Since the police in most cities of the world are fitted with modern equipment to combat crime and maintain traffic discipline, the need for such facilities for the DMP cannot be overemphasized. Strangely though, the DMP is finally going to have its own hi-tech set up about a decade after the authorities first raised the issue of introducing such a modern system in 1997. The reason why it took so many years to materialise the decision is best known to the authorities themselves. However, the decision to install a hi-tech monitoring system for the police, albeit delayed, is still welcome, for it is after all better late than never.
While appreciating the modernisation of the metropolitan police, it is important to add at this point that technology, though a necessary ingredient of any management and control system in modern parlance, is not the ultimate determinant for any system to deliver at the desired level. In fact, as always, it is the man behind the machine that determines everything. It is true also of our own police, especially the DMP.
After introduction of C3S, as they term it, the DMP will certainly look smarter. But would that also make the metropolitan police one hundred per cent efficient overnight? As a matter of fact, that would be too much to expect of the police.
To be up to its task, the members of the DMP will need further orientation, training and motivation. For it is only a highly motivated police force that is able to deliver its best.
In the circumstances, to match the people's increased expectation from a better equipped DMP, the authorities would do well also to enhance police morale through better training and a higher level of motivation. And the sooner the authorities take such measures the better is the possibility that the police would serve the city dwellers up to their expectation.
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