WCTOH

Global Health

Background:
Smoking is not only a personal problem but it is a problem of community because not only smokers are affected but people around smokers are also suffering from harmful effect of second hand smoking. In developing countries like Bangladesh law enforcement members like police can play an important role in societal efforts to reduce smoking in public place. This study was aimed to elucidate the knowledge, attitude and practice of police towards smoking.

Methods:
656 male police working in different area of Mymensingh and Dhaka city were randomly selected for the study. The period of study was November 2016 to May 2017. Information regarding their smoking status, knowledge about second hand smoking, anti-tobacco strategies, and practice related to reduce smoking in public place was collected through pre designed questionnaire.

Results:
Total number of the respondent was 656. The mean age of the participant was 31.2 years. Among the respondent most of them are constable (57.4%) and their education level was up to Secondary. Among the respondent 35.1% were smokers and 26.7% smoke in public place. About 79.4% know the harmful effect of second hand smoking to health. 95.8% of the respondent were aware of the anti-tobacco law and 52.5% inhibit smokers to smoke in public place. 66.3% told that increase awareness among people is the best way to reduce smoking in public place and 28.3% think that strict implementation of anti-tobacco laws will reduce the smoking rate in public place.

Conclusions:
We found that the police was associated with an inhibition of secondhand tobacco smoking exposure in public places. However, the impact was limited. Our study suggests that effective smoking control program designed specifically for police need to be taken to utilize the effective role of police for smoking control in public place.