Uniforms have changed, but will police culture follow?

On 16 November, Fatema Akter, a primary school teacher who collapsed after police fired sound grenades at unarmed demonstrators in Shahbagh eight days earlier, passed away. It is a brutal reminder of what Bangladesh's law enforcement actually is: a force still conditioned to dominate, punish, and suppress, regardless of the government in power. Her death came from a "crowd-control" device used against teachers demanding rights.

And this is precisely why the government's decision to change police uniforms lands with a hollow thud. 

The move is being sold as part of an image-repair and reform drive after the July Uprising, when the police, RAB, and Ansar became symbols of state brutality. But cosmetic changes, however sleek, cannot mask the unchanged mindset that continues to cost civilian lives. 

Social media reaction has been mixed as netizens have been trolling the new uniform for its likeness to 'uniforms from GTA Vice City' and 'nightguards'. 

"The draft Independent Police Commission Ordinance is so designed that it is likely to be another rehabilitation centre of retired police officials and bureaucrats, both at the commission level and management as well as operational level. This is among reasons why the main purpose of the proposed Independent Police Commission, which is to establish police accountability by addressing complaints from both police and the public, is most likely to remain a pipe dream." Dr Iftkharuzzaman, executive director, TIB

Aesthetics apart, the police's affinity towards brutality seems to remain unchanged; the Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) commissioner recently instructed officers to keep SMGs in burst-fire mode, while the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner issued orders to open fire if anyone attempts to set vehicles on fire or throw crude bombs (cocktails). 

The same political and bureaucratic pressures that once turned the force into a partisan weapon remain firmly intact.

Uniforms cannot reform an institution whose foundational problems lie in impunity, politicisation, organisational rot, and the absence of independent accountability. 

As former IGP Muhammad Nurul Huda told The Business Standard, Bangladesh has changed police uniforms multiple times, but none of the desirable outcomes ever followed. All the underlying issues stayed exactly as they were.

"I'm not aware of any study that suggests a correlation between performance and uniform. Changing uniforms is unlikely to bring about behavioural changes," he said.

"Historically, the police uniform has changed several times, but in the past few decades, there have been no desirable outcomes. All the issues that existed before have remained," he noted.

Indeed, colour changes do not address political interference in postings and promotions. They do not address custodial torture, nor the habit of firing weapons at protesters as a first resort. They do not address the long history of enforced disappearances, fabrication of cases, or the commercialisation of arrest and bail — practices that the police reform commission has repeatedly flagged.

And they certainly do not address the enormous credibility deficit created during the July Uprising, when the police's violence became so extreme that officers fled police stations for days, fearing retribution from ordinary people.

If anything, the rush to change uniforms reveals the state's impulse to manage perception rather than substance. The idea seems to be: change the colour, and the public might forget the blood that stained the previous one. 

Human rights activist Rezaur Rahman Lenin said, "Even though a 400-page report on police reform was produced by the Police Reform Commission, none of its data or recommendations have translated into meaningful reform. Their conduct remains unprofessional, and in many cases, brutally abusive. Their willingness to engage in torture and extrajudicial killings persists."

The Police Reform Commission's recommendations outlined the steps needed to make the police a more humane and independent force. On 11 September, the interim government directed the law ministry to draft laws for the establishment of two commissions within the police: the Independent Investigation Services, headed by the law adviser, and the Internal Complaints Commission, headed by the home adviser. 

However, implementation still seems far away. 

Dr Iftkharuzzaman, the executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), said, "The government has implemented some of the 'immediately implementable' reform proposals recommended by the Police Reform Commission, which are potentially useful, but mostly picked and chosen on an ad-hoc basis." 

He added, "The only strategic reform initiative taken in this regard is the draft 'Independent' Police Commission Ordinance which is regrettably flawed to the extent that it is likely to be neither independent, nor effective unless significantly overhauled. 

Firstly the draft is not fully consistent with the proposal under the July Charter consented to by all political parties without reservation, Lenin noted. 

"Secondly, and more importantly, the draft ordinance is so designed that it is likely to be another rehabilitation centre of retired police officials and bureaucrats, both at the commission level and management as well as operational level. This is among reasons why the main purpose of the proposed Independent Police Commission, which is to establish police accountability by addressing complaints from both police and the public, is most likely to remain a pipe dream. 

"Equally important is the total neglect of the challenges of embarrassingly poor infrastructure, logistics and service conditions of police especially at field level whereas priority has clearly been given to symbolism like change of uniform," he said. 

In a recent roundtable conference, Baharul Alam, inspector general of police, said, "No political party can dictate against whom I can file a case or submit a charge sheet. This is the least that must be ensured." 

Experts return to the same central issue: the police cannot reform as long as they remain under heavy political and bureaucratic control.

At the heart of the commission's work is the demand for an independent police commission — one that would control recruitment, transfers, postings, and promotions; one that would insulate the force from ruling-party influence; and one that would create a structure of professional accountability beyond the reach of ministers and political patrons.

But this is precisely the reform the administration is yet to implement. The administration has accepted or partially implemented technical or administrative tweaks, but the core issue — independence — remains untouched. 

And without independence, the police remain an extension of whoever sits in power, not an institution that serves the public.

Lenin said, "If the entrenched bureaucracy and the ruling authority continue to insist on maintaining such tight control over the police, do you really think changing uniforms or introducing superficial reforms will make any difference? Absolutely not." 

This is why uniform changes — even if psychologically useful — cannot meaningfully alter policing. Reform needs redesigned laws, institutional independence, professional oversight, accountability mechanisms, and organisational restructuring. 

Instead, the government is addressing the most superficial layer of the problem while leaving the machinery of impunity untouched.