Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia said, police members have been instructed to go door-to-door to collect intelligence information on citizens, as part of the government’s action plan to prevent militancy or threats of terrorism in the country.
“We observed many people were not committed to share information, and police personnel alike were not motivated either in collecting vital intelligence information. Moreover, we gathered clues on threats of militancy, terrorism, and crime. Against such backdrop, we have decided to conduct the citizen’s information collection week,” said the police chief.
The DMP commissioner urged all citizens concerned to submit landlord-tenant information to respective police stations, and help law enforcement agencies fight crime.
Commissioner Asaduzzaman made the remark at the inaugural event of Citizen Information Collection Week (CICW), on Saturday.
CICW program is expected to take place from June 15 to 21.
He also said that citizens' information will be collected from 302 beats of 50 police stations of DMP. The beat police officers in each police station will verify each house in an effort to ensure no one is left-out from sharing intelligence information of the area with the police.
If someone is excluded, they will fill up a specified form, and submit it to the nearest police station, thus information in the forms will get entered to the Citizen Information Management System (CIMS), he added.
To this end, another surveillance team will be formed from the DMP headquarters. This team will be deployed in the metropolitan area, and they will monitor the initiatives, said the commissioner.
“Our objective is to collect all relevant information of the citizens, and create a database in the city under the CIMS. If we cannot consolidate it, then we would not be able to implement the main objective, and goal.”
Asaduzzaman said: "The CIMS project was launched in 2015, but it officially started on September, 2016.
"Since then, we have collected information on 6.3 million people who belong to some 2.2 million families – which has eventually helped in thwarting militancy, terrorism, and other crimes across the country."
The DMP chief said a total of 2,41,507 homeowners, 18,20,094 tenants, 1,21,040 mess members, and other 1,100, family members, 31,66,821 drivers and 8,83,984 household help; which totals to a 62,34, 547 people information update in CIMS software up to June 13, 2019.
Bangladesh's achievement in combating terrorism and extremism has been recognized by the international community. The government have been successful in collecting information from landlords, and tenants through CIMS software.
Since the Holey Artisan attack in 2016, the DMP Chief claimed that no one was permitted to rent a house without submitting proper information to the relevant authorities in Dhaka. Following the government’s security measures, murder, crimes rate, and violent crimes have dropped significantly, added the DMP Commissioner.
