Analysing Legal Challenges of Bangladesh Police for Achieving Polycentric Security Governance (PSG)

Abstract

To manage the ‘common-pool resources,’ the concept of the ‘polycentric governance’ was adopted; now emerging as one of the most popular and effective governance systems for ensuring proper utility and accountability of public goods and services. A few years ago, Bangladesh Police introduced 'Community Policing' and recently initiated 'Beat Policing' to enhance public relations and easy access to police services. These initiatives resemble a 'Plural Community' polycentric governance approach, but the lack of legal basis makes it questionable. Therefore, this research aims to determine what legal challenges may arise when introducing polycentric security governance based on the existing laws of the Bangladesh Police. Through this qualitative research, an attempt has been made to find out the existing legal challenges of the Bangladesh Police by analyzing the Police Act-1861, Police Regulations of Bengal (PRB), and 8 (Eight) Metropolitan Police Acts. The results of this research show that achieving polycentric security governance is not possible through the existing laws in several areas, which will emerge as challenges in implementation. To avoid such legal hurdles, it is necessary to amend, modify, and update those laws. For this reason, some recommendations have been added for eliminating the existing legal challenges and setting directions for further research at the end.