Bangladesh Police has taken on initiative to introduce tactical belts for officials involved in operational duty and patrols, as part of its efforts to better equip the force and make the policing system more efficient.
Once introduced, police officials will no longer need to carry objects like guns, batons, handcuffs and wireless handsets in their hands, said officials of
Police Headquarters (PHQ). Confirming the matter, Walid Hossain, deputy commissioner (Media and PR) of the DMP told The New Nation that in a launching programme Benazir Ahmed, inspector general of Bangladesh Police will distribute these tactical belt today (Tuesday).
The belts will initially be provided to operation and patrol teams of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP). Later, those will be distributed among all other police unit members across the country in phases, he said.
They have already prepared around 10,000 belts, out of which, around 7,000 will be given to DMP and 3,000 to CMP.
Made of nylon and polyester, a belt will have six chambers where a small water bottle, wireless set, POS machine for traffic fines, torch, collapsible baton and handcuffs can be kept. A small thigh belt will be attached with the tactical belt to hold the gun, said officials of PHQ’s equipment section.
Police officials in developed countries also use such belts, said official of PHQ.
The officials hinted at some more changes to come in the force. For example, every member, ranking from constable to sub-inspector, who will take part in operations or patrols, will only use pistols instead of large firearms.
The provision of using large firearms by operation forces or patrol teams will be abolished, they said.
In future, a body-worn camera system will be integrated with the belts, and high-officials will be able to connect with the operation team directly and see live updates through the cameras, said an official.
