8 lakh law enforcement officers, drone-dog squads to be deployed for election security

Home Affairs Advisor Lt. Gen. (retd.) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury has said that various law enforcement agencies will use 428 drones and dog squads for election security across the country. He said this after the meeting of the Advisory Committee on Law and Order at the meeting room of the Home Ministry at the Secretariat today, Monday (January 19).
He said that members of the armed forces including the police, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Ansar and VDP, Coast Guard and local civil administration will be deployed under the ‘In Aid to Civil Power’ to maintain peace and order in order to hold the 13th National Parliament elections in a free, fair, peaceful and festive atmosphere.
He said that those deployed in the first phase will remain in place. In the second phase, there will be a polling-centric deployment, where law enforcement agency members will be on duty for a total of 7 days from February 8 to 14. A law enforcement coordination cell will be formed in collaboration with the police, Ansar VDP, armed forces, BGB, Coast Guard and RAB. This coordination cell will have one representative from each law enforcement agency.
For the elections, a total of 897,117 law enforcement agency members will be deployed, including 1,00,000 army, 5,000 navy, 3,730 air force (1,250 ground force), 1,49,443 police, 576,314 Ansar and Village Defense Force, 37,453 BGB, 3,585 coast guard, 7,700 RAB and 13,390 fire service and civil defense department personnel as support services.
He said that the total number of polling stations in the elections is 42,761. Of these, 8,780 are more important polling stations, 16,548 are important polling stations and 17,433 are general polling stations. Body-worn cameras will be used in 25,000 more important and important polling stations. CCTV cameras will be installed in each polling station during the election. Necessary preparations are being made for that purpose.
The Home Affairs Advisor said that another notable aspect of this year’s election is the use of drones. 418 drones of various law enforcement agencies will be used in the election. Of these, 200 are from the Army, 16 from the Navy, 100 from the BGB, 50 from the Bangladesh Police, 20 from the Coast Guard, 16 from the RAB and 16 from the Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defense Force. Various forces will use their dog squads to provide security and protection during the election.
Law enforcement agencies have been instructed to quickly arrest miscreants who may create obstacles and obstacles in the election and take legal action against them. He also said that the interim government will strictly suppress any kind of misdeeds and activities that could hinder and influence the elections.