40,000 bodycams to be purchased for election security: Finance adviser

To strengthen security at polling stations during the upcoming national election in February, a proposal has been approved to purchase 40,000 body-worn cameras (bodycams) for the police, said Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed. He made the statement on Tuesday at the Secretariat after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase.

The Economic Adviser said that the proposal to purchase 40,000 body-worn cameras for the police has been approved. The cameras will be procured through UNDP. Although he did not specify the exact expenditure, he mentioned that several hundred crore taka would be required.

Earlier on August 9, at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus at the state guesthouse Jamuna in the capital, the matter of purchasing body-worn cameras was discussed. The following day, a post from the Chief Adviser’s verified Facebook page confirmed the decision to expedite the procurement of the cameras.

The post mentioned that Home Adviser Lieutenant General (Retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, Chief Adviser’s Special Assistants Khoda Box Chowdhury and Faiz Ahmed Taiyeb were present at the meeting. At that time, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus instructed for the swift purchase of the bodycams and for ensuring proper training for thousands of police personnel.

Faiz Ahmed Taiyeb said that the process of procuring 40,000 body cameras is at its final stage. These devices will strengthen security at thousands of vulnerable polling stations.