Dr. Kumbour shaking hands with the B/A Regional Police Commander, DCOP Robert Ayalingo, while IGP Paul Quaye and the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, DCOP Patrick Timbila look on
The Interior Minister, Dr. Benjamin Kumbuor, has called on the Police Administration to get rid of all miscreants in the service as their activities do not help the image recovery of the Police Service.
Dr Kumbuor observed that even though there had been some modest gain in redeeming the image of the service, a lot more ought to be done.
The minister was speaking at the National Police Command Conference 2011 on Thursday, July 21.
The two-day conference, which is being held under the team ‘One Year Of Strategic National Policing Plan- Its Impact on Contemporary Road Traffic Management and Democratic Policing’, would be used to review the five-year SNPP and other topics like institutional orientation and re-orientation for enhanced corporate image and performance in the Ghana Police Service, overview of police performance in reducing violent crime, implementation, monitoring and management of the change process.
According to the Interior Minister, “The ultimate prestige and esteem of the Ghana Police Service has still not been restored”, adding that various acts of indiscipline, indiscretion and pure greed shown by some personnel in the past had dragged the image of the service in the mud.
He urged the service to purge itself of persons who remained incorrigible and, by their actions, continued to blemish the image of the service.
Dr. Kumbour observed that mostly, the police themselves or the community policing assistants who directed traffic contributed to traffic jams on roads because they probably lacked the requisite training.
The minister was not happy about the spate of accidents on roads and urged the Police Administration to use the conference in mapping out strategies in curbing the menace.
He was enthused by the theme of the conference which gives prominence to the issue of road menace.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Paul Tawiah Quaye, noted that since the launch of the SNPP in May 2010, there had been improvement in public cooperation with police in the area of exchange of information, which had led to a remarkable reduction in serious crime such as armed robbery and drug trafficking.
To sustain and further improve on police-public cooperation, the service had constructed a modern office complex for the community policing unit in collaboration with other stakeholders.
A DNA laboratory has also been set up at the Police Forensic Laboratory to provide scientific approach to criminal investigation, with some officers having undergone technological training to man the laboratory.
This IGP said this was intended to give Ghana Police Service a competitive edge in forensic crime analysis in the sub-region.
The strength of the service is also being boosted by recruiting fresh personnel to meet international requirements, while personnel are being trained and re-trained to improve their knowledge base.
As regards the oil find, the police have also set up the marine police and have since acquired a large parcel of land in Axim for the construction of a Marine Policing Training School where personnel of that unit would be trained to protect Ghana’s territorial waters.
He said among other things that the implementation of the recommendation of the SNPP, in addition to its traditional core duties, had resulted in a reduction in the incidence of motor accidents on the roads, especially during the Christmas and the Easter festivities.
The IGP used the opportunity to warn personnel of the service to stay away from any partisan politics since it was dangerous and posed a serious threat to the very foundation of democracy.
He urged commanders to start developing strategies and appropriate operational measures to manage the security situation before, during and after election 2012, which was just around the corner.
By Rocklyn Antonio
