The Ghana Police Service is now taking a protective proactive posture to ensure that the country’s internal security is not compromised.
The new strategy is to put the fear of the police in the minds of criminals and give the public the sense of peace and security they deserve to go about their daily affairs.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, disclosed this on Wednesday, November 8, 2023, while meeting Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) representatives as part of the Police Management Board (POMAB) series of engagements with stakeholders ahead of the Christmas and New Year celebrations in Accra.
He said security was fundamental to the economic growth of the country, and that without it, there would be no opportunity for all.
Dr. Dampare said previously the police were very reactive in dealing with security situations,, which was not helping, adding: “So we want to be proactive so we must scale it up to be preventive proactive. First, we wanted to be preventive now. We want to scale it up to be preventive proactive. It is higher than just being proactive.”
He told the OMCs representatives that POMAB wants to do away with that public perception about the police and the vice versa.
According to him, the new paradigm shift was to have a combination of 80 percent proactive and 20 percent reactive functioning police, which “ensure that we have peace and security in our country.”
The IGP added that the police administration had no intention to live on its past glory, but to continue to leverage on best practices to become a world class police force or one of the best in Africa.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies, Kwaku Agyeman Duah, lamented over how criminal activities are affecting their businesses, and for which they no longer operate 24 hours.
As part of the engagement, the IGP and the POMAB members also met Mobile Money Agent Association (MMAAG) to brainstorm on security challenges confronting their operations.
In his welcome address, the Director-General of Administration, Commissioner of Police (COP) Christian Tetteh Yohuno said POMAB was engaging MMAAG, since the handle money and as a result they become easy target of criminals.
He said this happens when the criminals visit the mobile money operators under the pretence to transact business to take advantage of them.
“We are getting to Christmas and we decided to meet with you who become targets to criminals. The IGP and POMAB decided to meet you to tell us the challenges you have and want the police to do to help you enjoy your business.
“Tell us the challenges you face, on the part of the police the things we are doing that are not comfortable we are ready to listen.”
