Chukwuma presenting the award to COP Rose Bio Atinga and Supt Aduhene-Benieh
THE NIMA District Police Station has won the Altus Global Alliance Best African Police Station award as a result of best policing practices at the station, particularly its relation with the public.
Thirteen police stations from Ghana participated in the awards alongside others from the continent but Nima beat them all to place the overall best while Dansoman and Tema Community 2 police stations placed second and third respectively in the national awards.
Subsequently, the Nima District Police Commander, Superintendent Aduhene-Benieh, will join other award-wining police officers from different regions in New York in USA this week to participate in a Global Award Ceremony.
The Altus Global Award is meant to deepen public participation and support.
The participating police stations were examined on a number of issues, key among them were community orientation, physical conditions (structures), equal treatment of members of the public, detention conditions, as well as transparency and accountability of which the Nima Police won by 99 percent.
The Illupeju Police Station in Lagos and Wudil Police Station in Kano, all in Nigeria, picked the second and third regional awards with 98.33% and 96.67% respectively.
The Nima Divisional Commander, ACP Timothy Yoosa Bonga, was elated over the award and sounding biblical, he quizzed, “if any good thing could come from Nima. Yes again I say yes something very good and better can come out of Nima.”
He recounted how Nima had gained notoriety in crime but through the efforts of the police and cooperation of the community, they had been able to win the enviable award for the station.
The newly-appointed Director-General Police Administration, COP Rose Bio Atinga, who represented the IGP, Paul Tawiah Quaye, noted that the participation of the various police stations in the award was a way of strengthening the concept of community policing.
It was therefore a wake-up call to the various commanders not to only respect the rights of detainees but to also keep the cells clean to meet acceptable standards, she said.
She hoped that the competition was carried nationwide to enable more police stations to participate in the future.
The chairman of Altus Global Alliance Innocent Chukwuma hoped that his outfit would extend its activities to all police stations in every country in Africa, adding they were currently in only 10 countries.
Supt. Aduhene-Benieh, who received the award for Nima District, said when he assumed office in 2008, the crime record of the area stood at 4700 by December 2008 but it had drastically reduced to 2030.
He thanked the various individuals and corporate organizations, especially Royal House Chapel, which renovated the Nima cells, for contributing to the success story.
The Divisional Commander of Illupeju, Supt Gbolahan Olugbemi, and C/Supt Lawal Molid Lawal of Wudil Division picked the awards for their respective stations.
The chairman of the Ayawaso chiefs, Alhaji Imoro Issa, was the chairman for the occasion.
BY Rocklyn Antonio