This year’s Police Week, the largest annual event of Bangladesh Police, will be held over four days starting from 10 May, with significant austerity measures leading to a scaled-down programme, including no illuminations at police establishments.
According to police headquarters sources, the government’s expenditure austerity policy has prompted the reduction of the event from its previous seven-day duration. The number of events and guests has been cut, and even the number of medal recipients has been lowered.
A total of 115 police members will receive medals this year. A reunion event with the president, which was omitted during the previous interim government, will be held this time. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is scheduled to attend the Police Week parade as the chief guest and present medals to the recipients.
Multiple police officials have confirmed that no illuminations will be done at police establishments, including Rajarbagh. The food menu has also been reduced.
A scheduled discussion meeting with civil society has been dropped. Furthermore, no officer below the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) – other than awardees participating in the parade – is being invited.
Besides the prime minister’s address to senior police officials, the week’s events include the Police Association’s annual gathering, annual sports competition, the home minister’s conference with senior officials, the IGP conference, shield parade, and the IG’s badge award ceremony.
Presentations from the SB, CID, and PBI are scheduled, alongside conferences with ministers in charge of various portfolios, a reunion of retired and serving police officers, and a gathering with the president. Unless rain intervenes, the parade will be held at the Rajarbagh ground.
Separate “darbars” or meetings with the prime minister and the home minister will also take place, where selected police officials will speak on predetermined issues.
AIG (Media) of Police Headquarters, AHM Shahadat Hossain, said that BPM and PPM medals are awarded annually for extraordinary courage, heroic deeds, solving major case mysteries, crime control, efficiency, honesty, and disciplinary conduct.
According to a gazette notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs, 115 police members will receive these medals this year. A panel of 24 committees, prioritising field-level members and functioning above political considerations, is reviewing the profiles of potential awardees. The list will be sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs, and a final gazette will be issued after approval from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Context and past years
Before the fall of the Awami League government in the popular uprising of 5 August 2024, the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had inaugurated a six-day Police Week on 27 February. That year, a record 400 police and RAB members received police medals in four categories. In 2023, 117 people received medals, and in 2022, 230 people received them. Many of those medals were later cancelled by the interim government.
In 2025, Police Week was reduced to three days (29 April to 1 May) instead of seven, and no parade was held. The shield parade and other competitions were also absent from the events. No special supplement on Police Week was published in newspapers, nor were any special programmes aired on radio or television.
