Reform of Human Resource Management System in Police Administration of Bangladesh

Abstract

Human Resources Management (HRM) is the key instrument for the development of any organization. In Bangladesh, one police works for about 800 people that indicates the police population ratio is very high in compare to other countries. Hence, the development of human resource management is essential for Bangladesh Police (BP). Consequently, this dissertation has discussed the issues of HRM Strategy with an attempt to improve human resource and service conditions of Bangladesh Police. In doing so, this research looks into different Human Resource Development (HRD) theories. Beside this, it presents the evolving path of Bangladesh Police with the current HRM system. Moreover, it has analyzed the quantitative data collected from police personnel to identify the challenges and gaps of the existing system. Taking this together, the qualitative data collected from experts have also been analyzed to suggest possible ways to overcome those challenges. The main focus of this research is on seven key areas of HRM which are: recruitment, training, transfer, promotion, performance evaluation, superior-subordinate relationships, and incentive structure. From the findings it is revealed that excessive workload, miserable infrastructural (vehicle, accommodation etc.) condition, shortage of manpower, insufficient technical training and low incentive setup are the main obstacles to serve people expectation. The efficacy of the current Performance Appraisal (PA) system is also questionable. Moreover, limited promotion scope because of the pyramid shape organizational structure creating frustration among officers for what many of them do not care about their good service record rather try to be happy with making money illegally. So, this is crucial for Bangladesh Police to think about addressing this issue to save police image. Nevertheless, lack of transparency, influence of power and politics, financial transaction and ignorance of existing policy regarding recruitment, posting and promotion are degrading the HRM standard of Bangladesh Police. As a consequence, the necessity of establishing a Separate Service Commission for police recruitment and increasing the educational qualification of police Constables in recruitment for upgrading their social status has revealed from both qualitative and quantitative data. Besides this, formation of dedicated and honest teams for recruitment, transparent implementation of transfer and promotion policy is highly recommended by the expert’s to diminish the frustration of police officers. The experts also suggested to augment the training on behavioral approaches, stress management, technology based training (forensic, cybercrime etc.), first-aid training and training on remand execution especially for the mid-level officer to provide quality service to the people. In terms of superior- subordinate relationship, it is observed that dissatisfaction among junior police personnel exists with the behavior of their senior. Therefore, ‘Code of Conduct’ and ‘Rules of Engagement’ could be introduced to improve the relationship. Adjusting with the opposite gender, gender-sensitive policies and directives need to be introduced. Police encounter multiple traumatic incidents in extremely stressful situations to combat violent criminals while on duty. Moreover, they are truly on duty 24/7 days including social and religious festive days. Therefore, the experts opined that without any doubt separate pay scale is essential for police. Moreover, overtime, holiday allowance and risk allowance for all ranks need to be incorporate for ensuring service expectation of people from police. Finally, this study is concluded with the opinion that, as the progress of a country depends on people’s safety and security, the highest priority should be given for the development of police department as an investment. Though, considering the political and socio-economic condition of the country, the standard HRM strategy is not possible to implement to full extent but the sincere attention of the government is required for diminishing the issues of existing HRM system to motivate police for ensuring the safety and security of public lives.