Bangladesh Police Academy (BPA) is the oldest police training institute of

Bangladesh Police The Bangladesh Police () is the national law enforcement agency of Bangladesh, operating under the Ministry of Home Affairs (Bangladesh), Ministry of Home Affairs. It plays a crucial role in maintaining peace, and enforcement of law and order with ...

. It is the

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

of police training in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. It is located 20 miles from

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

Location

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

Rajshahi District Rajshahi District () is a district in mid-western Bangladesh. It is a part of Rajshahi Division. The metropolitan city of Rajshahi is in Rajshahi District. Geography Rajshahi District is bounded by Naogaon District to the north, Natore Distric ...

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 Mill Barrack () is a former military barracks situated at Gendaria, Dhaka, Bangladesh, currently occupied by the Range Reserve Force of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police. After the Indian Rebellion of 1857 it held the forces that had been located at La ...

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 ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

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

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

in 1911, the existing Police Training College for Bengal,

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

Orissa Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thir ...

and

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

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, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies 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 Mohammad Ayub Khan (14 May 1907 – 19 April 1974) was a Pakistani military dictator who served as the second president of Pakistan from 1958 until his resignation on 1969. He was the first native commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army, se ...

who was visiting the academy as Chief Guest in its Golden Jubily. In 2007, it was renamed as 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, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

) 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 measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

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

External links

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