Bangladesh: ICITAP-Facilitated Police-Community Engagement Program Takes Hold

On November 21, ICITAP-Bangladesh provided an update on how the “Hello OC” program is now mandatory in Chattogram. “Funded by the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism (CT), the ICITAP community engagement program continues to impact how the Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) interacts with its community. ICITAP has concentrated its program towards emboldening CMP police to be more aggressive in CMP’s goals to improve its image and its relationships with communities.  In the past year and with ICITAP’s encouragement and support, CMP has initiated a number of programs that do just that.  One such program is “Hello OC”, a program whereby, at least once per month, Officers in Charge (OC) of CMP police stations go into the community for a day to meet with citizens of certain sections of their areas of responsibility. The CMP Commissioner recently declared that “Hello OC” is now mandatory at each of CMP’s police stations.”