Cops to go door to door to update citizen info in Dhaka

Police are going to knock every house in the capital throughout this week to update citizen information as part of its preventive measures to avert threats of militant attacks.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia today disclosed the matter at a press briefing at the DMP Media Centre while inaugurating “Citizen Information Collection Week”, aimed at creating awareness among house owners and tenants about providing necessary information on citizens living in the city.

It will continue until June 21, he added.

DMP is trying to include all updated information in its Citizen Information Management System (CIMS). The aim of developing this software is to gather necessary information very quickly whenever police needs, he said.

The DMP chief admitted that the update of CIMS has not been going smoothly due to negligence of police as well as due to the non-cooperation of the house owners and tenants.

“We’ve started to collect information again through the ‘Citizen Information Collection Week’ as we feel that there are threats of militant and terror attacks,” the DMP commissioner said.

Recently there was a drive of Rab at a militant den in the city’s Bosila area. That house owner didn’t provide tenant’s information to police, he added.

“They (militants) fear hiding in the capital because of the DMP’s CIMS database system,” the Commissioner said, adding that it has been helping to prevent crimes.

DMP formally launched the CIMS after the deadly militant attack on Holey Artisan café in 2016 to store information about the city dwellers.

He said that the DMP has been observing the ‘Citizen Information Collection Week’ so that no one is left out of the CIMS database.

Police will go to every house in the city to collect information of the tenants in the city, he said.

After completion of the week, a special team of senior police officers, formed by the DMP headquarters, will randomly visit houses to ensure that everyone is included in the CIMS system, the Commissioner added.

“If we can complete this task without a hitch, not only terrorism and militancy, but also crimes like murder and robbery will be stopped in Dhaka,” he said seeking cooperation from the city dwellers.

Every tenant is given a unique number and information is updated whenever he or she shifts residence to another place within the capital.

Till date, the DMP has compiled data of over 6.23 million (62,34547) people in the CIMS, living in Dhaka. Of them, 2.4 lakh (2,41,507) are house owners and 18.2 lakh (18,20,094) are tenants. It also included 1.2 lakh (1,21,040) mess members and 1100 others. The data shows -- of the rest, 8.8 lakh (8,83,984) are drivers or maids.