Police–Public Rift and the Crisis of Perception

The Problem of Perception and the Politics of Education

A particularly corrosive dimension of this perception crisis lies in how different tiers of police recruitment are socially evaluated. There exists a widespread belief that members of the subordinate ranks are “less educated,” lacking higher academic degrees and formal scholarly credentials. This assumption, however, reflects a narrow and misleading understanding of professional competence. Policing is not solely an academic profession; it is also a deeply practical and experiential vocation. Many operational competencies essential to effective policing—investigation, documentation, crisis response, evidence handling, and situational judgment—are acquired through rigorous training, field exposure, and accumulated practical learning rather than through university degrees.

Experiential Knowledge and Practical Intelligence

Police personnel operating at the ground level develop a form of professional intelligence that cannot be easily replicated in classroom environments. Their training institutions function as practical schools of governance, law enforcement, and social management. Over years of service, they internalize the technical dynamics of field realities—community behavior, procedural discipline, legal formalities, and crisis management—through lived experience. Understanding the complexities of field policing is not an abstract intellectual exercise; it is a process that unfolds over time through direct engagement with social conflict, human vulnerability, and institutional responsibility.

An Illustrative Narrative from 1974: Mohsin Hall, Dhaka University

A powerful illustration of this experiential competence emerges from a historical narrative shared by a senior police officer who served as City ASP in Dhaka in 1974. The seven-murder incident at Mohsin Hall of Dhaka University occurred on 4 April 1974. This event involved the killing of seven students in front of the TV room at Mohsin Hall, and it is recorded as a significant and violent episode in the history of campus politics in Bangladesh. Following a tragic incident involving seven murders at Mohsin Hall, Dhaka University, the university administration—including the provost, proctor, and house tutors—found themselves unable to formulate a legally compliant First Information Report (FIR) even after twelve hours had passed. This delay was not merely administrative; it constituted a failure to fulfil a clear legal obligation.

In this moment of institutional paralysis, an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), serving as the reader to the City ASP, intervened. Drawing on procedural knowledge, legal training, and field experience, he drafted the FIR within half an hour. The act brought immediate relief to the university authorities and ensured compliance with legal requirements. This episode reveals a crucial truth: formal education does not automatically translate into functional legal competence, while practical training and field experience often produce operational mastery that is indispensable in moments of crisis.

Re-framing Professional Value in Policing

This narrative challenges dominant hierarchies of knowledge that privilege academic credentials over professional competence. It exposes the flawed assumption that intellectual authority is monopolized by degree-holders. In policing, legitimacy, efficiency, and effectiveness frequently emerge from experiential expertise rather than formal academic status. The “practical school” of policing produces its own epistemology—one grounded in procedure, legality, discipline, and operational rationality.

The growing public distrust of the police in Bangladesh cannot be understood solely through the lens of misconduct or political instrumentalization. It is also shaped by distorted perceptions of competence, education, and professional worth. A meaningful reform discourse must therefore move beyond simplistic binaries of “educated” versus “uneducated” and recognize the complex ecology of knowledge within policing institutions. Only by acknowledging both academic and experiential forms of expertise can a more balanced, respectful, and realistic understanding of policing—and its role in society—be constructed.