The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Mohammed Ahmed Alhassan, has reminded personnel of the Ghana Police Service never to shoot to kill or to brutalise people as they prepare for the aftermath of the Supreme Court verdict.
He indicated that as the service prepared for any eventuality after the Supreme Court verdict, personnel must bear in mind that the police were basically to prevent crime and to restrain people from committing crime.
He, therefore, charged the various regional police commands to prepare the personnel adequately in readiness for any skirmishes after the Supreme Court verdict.
He said although the police service was working to ensure that personnel were ready for any possible skirmishes, the service still had “a lot of homework to do” and must wake up and be combat-ready.
Mr Alhassan said this when he paid a working visit to the Central Regional Command in Cape Coast yesterday, to ascertain the readiness of the regional command to maintain public order after the Supreme Court verdict.
He called on the police commands to do more to ensure that police personnel were adequately trained to handle weapons rightly and responsibly during the period.
He pledged that his administration would work to ensure that the police service moved from a complaining service to a problem-solving one to make it more efficient.
Mr Alhassan called for the judicious use of resources, saying some of the complaints were illusionary.
The Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, Mr John Kudalor, said the police would not want to encounter large crowds in protest of the verdict after its pronouncement and encouraged all to watch the proceedings on television rather than take to the streets.
The IGP later inspected a special parade of personnel.