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Regional Police
committee inaugurated in Sunyani
Sunyani (B/A) Jan. 13, GNA - A 25-member Brong Ahafo
Regional Police Committee that is expected to advise the
Police Council on matters relating to the administration of
the Service in the region inaugurated in Sunyani on
Saturday.
The committee has Mr. Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, Regional
Minister as Chairman while the other members include a
lawyer, two senior police officers, a representative of the
Inspector General of Police, representatives each of the
regional house of chiefs, Attorney-General's Department and
the 19 districts.
Mr. Justice Sam Baddoo, Chairman of the Police Council who
inaugurated the committee appealed to members to look for
innovative ways to address the problems confronting the
Police Service in the region.
He said the government was aware of the teething problems
bedeviling the Service, which include poor conditions of
service, lack of adequate accommodation and transportation.
Despite these bottlenecks, Justice Baddoo noted, the
government is not reneging on its efforts at providing
infrastructure such as a new Police Hospital to be sited at
Tamale and renovating police cells across the country.
Mr. Baffour-Awuah noted that the inauguration of the
committee had come at an opportune time, when the Service
was embarking on programmes to help improve its corporate
image and public relations strategies.
He stressed that such measures would come to naught "without
corresponding efforts by the Police personnel to eschew
negative practices that tended to bring the image of the
Service into disrepute and expose it to public ridicule.
"Such changes are required not only at the lower ranks but
the entire hierarchy of command in the Police bureaucracy",
the regional minister emphasised.
Mr. Baffour-Awuah noted that issues like indiscriminate use
of firearms, unlawful arrests and detention, abuse of human
rights and interference in chieftaincy and land disputes
would have to be seriously addressed to win the confidence
and support of the public in the fight against crime.
He mentioned that other issues as delays in the
investigation of cases and the perceived use of motor checks
on roads as money-making ventures rather than road safety
promotion must also be done away with.
Mr. Baffour-Awuah appealed to members of the public who had
scores to settle with the police or against any person or
group of persons to use laid down procedures for redress
instead of taking the law into their own hands.
Mr. Ken Dapaah, Minister of Interior appealed to the
committee to partner the Regional Police Command in devising
strategies to tackle resource-related problems of the
Service.
He reiterated the importance of the role of the Police
towards the promotion of peace and stability and
socio-economic development and urged district assemblies and
the committee to support the activities of the Service,
particularly, in accommodation and transportation.
Mr. Dapaah called on the committee members to regularly
visit police stations to put them in a good stead to
articulate the concerns of their organizations and to enrich
their discussions.
The Interior Minister decried the poor state of police cells
and called for the redesigning of the police charge offices
and the establishment of a complaints centre to make these
facilities more public friendly.
He charged the committee to ensure that the facilities were
brought to acceptable standards.
"The Police Council is aware of the financial implications
of the redevelopment policy", the Minister said and assured
the committee of the readiness of the private sector to
support its programmes when approached with the right
proposals.
Mrs. Elizabeth Mills Robertson, who spoke on behalf of the
Inspector General of Police, Mr. Patrick Acheampong, urged
the committee to look into the causes of public order
discrepancies and to make their findings and recommendations
available to the regional Security apparatus.
GNA
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