Police Uniform Changed Again, Drawing Questions Over Frequent Redesigns

❐ Staff Reporter

It seems like there is a competition going on in the police to dress up as they please. After changing once during the interim government, the uniform of the Bangladesh Police is being changed again. The current BNP government is returning to the colors of the BNP-Jamaat alliance government of 2001-06 by changing the uniforms purchased at a huge cost during the Yunus government.

A notification was issued from the police headquarters yesterday regarding the change in uniform.

The new decision has decided that the uniform of police members in the metropolitan area will be a light olive-colored shirt as before, and the uniform of other units (including the headquarters) other than the metropolitan area will be a dark blue shirt. In both cases, khaki-colored trousers or pants have been prescribed.

The notification said that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) has, with the approval of the government, brought amendments to the Police Dress Rules, 2025, by virtue of the powers conferred by Section 12 of the Police Act, 1861. As part of the amendments, the ‘shirt iron TC (Pantone Color Code: 18-1306)’ mentioned in Rule 4(5)(a) will be replaced with ‘light olive color shirt’ for the Metropolitan Police and ‘deep blue color shirt’ for other units.

On the other hand, the ‘Trousers Pantone Color Code: 19-3903 Coffee (Shell)’ mentioned in Rule 4 (6) B will be replaced with ‘Khaki Colored’.

As a result, the police uniforms were changed to the style of the BNP-led government that lasted from 2001-06.

After the fall of the government on August 5, 2024, the interim government introduced changes to the police uniform. At that time, the iron-colored shirts and coffee-colored trousers generated widespread discussion and criticism. In addition, there was dissatisfaction among police members.