Bangladesh Police Academy (BPA) is a 100-year-old police training institute. It is the Alma Mater of police training in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. It is located 20 miles from Rajshahi City.

Location

Bangladesh Police Academy is located at Sardah under Charghat police station in

Rajshahi Rajshahi ( bn, রাজশাহী, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city and a major urban, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of the eponymous Rajshahi Division, division and Rajshahi District ...

district. The mighty & beautiful river-

Padma The Padma ( bn, পদ্মা ''Pôdma'') is a major river in Bangladesh. It is the main distributary of the Ganges, flowing generally southeast for to its confluence with the Meghna River near the Bay of Bengal. The city of Rajshahi is sit ...

flows beside it dividing the Bengal into the East and the West.

Evolution

The necessity for imparting formal training to policemen was first felt in Bengal in 1893 when an experimental course of instruction limited to a period of 12 months was tried at Mill Barrack in Dhaka. The experimentation however proved positive. In the meantime, the Indian Police Commission of 1902 also recommended establishment of a Provincial Training College. So, the Police Training School at Mill Barrack,

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

, was transformed into Provincial Institution in 1906. On annulment of the short-lived partition of

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

in 1911, the existing Police Training College for Bengal,

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sch ...

and

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

at Bhagalpur (India) went to the province of the reorganized Bihar and Orissa. As such the need for a Police Training College for the province of Bengal and Assam was felt immediately. It was not possible to run the college in Dhaka for want of adequate accommodation, proper environment and also for its non-proximity from the capital city of

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

. So the authorities concerned thought of setting up a Police Training College at a better site having a bigger area. In July 1912, the college was established at Sardah to meet police training requirements in Bengal and Assam, which later in 1962 was declared as Police Academy, by the then president Field Marshal

Ayub Khan Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced s ...

who was visiting the academy as Chief Guest in its Golden Jubily. In 2007 it is again renamed Bangladesh Police Academy.

Historical background

Major H. Chamney who was selected to be the first principal of the reorganized Bengal Police Training College was an army officer, serving at Ghazipur (

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

) at that time. In those days, there was a regular passenger steamer service between Ghazipur and Calcutta run by Indian Navigation and Railway Company. Legends say that while traveling to Calcutta by this river route, Major Chamney once stopped at Charghat-which was then a steamer station-and was fascinated by the beauty of Sardah with a large open field and massive buildings of Dutch and English indigo planters. These were then being used as the Katcheries of the Midnapur Zaminderi Estate. Major H. Chamney thought this place suitable for establishment of a Police Training College. He immediately reported the matter to the Govt. and his proposal was accepted. The entire property, comprising an area of 242.66

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

s of land with all its installations, was then purchased by the Government from Midnapur Zamindari Estate at an amount of only Tk. 25,000. It was thus destined to become the site for the planned Police Training College.

Courses offered

Basic courses

Refreshers’ courses

Specialized courses

List of principals

References

{{Authority control Law enforcement in Bangladesh Vocational education in Bangladesh Bangladesh Police 1912 establishments in India Police academies in Bangladesh