The Director-General of the National Patrol Department of the Ghana Police Service, COP Paul Manly Awuni, says “the Police Administration is taking pragmatic steps to weed out miscreants and criminals masquerading in Police uniforms from the service to restore our reputation and good image.”
The initiative, he noted, would put an end to any act of bribery, extortion, corruptible activities, and worse of all, police personnel involvement in violent crimes such as robbery.
According to him, for the police service to win the public confidence and trust, there was the need for the police administration to embark on house cleaning exercises, since “in dealing with the public, we expect you to exhibit a high sense of professionalism, civility, and respect for the general public.”
COP Awuni made the statement while addressing the passing out Parade of the second batch of 2022 recruits at the National Police Training School in Accra on Friday, 17th September, 2022.
The senior police officer explained that while emerging crimes, including terrorism and cyber insecurity increasingly demand that the service train sharpen personnel’s skills to deal with them decisively, the public involvement in the fight cannot be underrated.
He added that tackling in-house problems is to raise the bar of the Police Service to achieve an enviable position of world-class standard, where it would be ready at all times, with the requisite knowledge and the skill sets needed to effectively deal with any challenge likely to disturb the peace and tranquillity of the state.
To be able to achieve this, he indicated that the recruits were introduced to training modules such as Proactive Policing Strategies, Police Accountability, Professionalism and Ethical Conduct of Personnel, Adherence to Human Rights Standards in Law Enforcement, Abhorrence to Corruption, Civility to the General Public, Client Management and Customer Care.
This, notwithstanding, the recruits have been taken through the field and practical activities such as Riding, Driving, Swimming, Crowd Control, Incident and Disaster Management, Crime Scene Management, Traffic Management, Radio Communication, Intelligence Gathering, Community Based Patrols, Charge Office Management, Access Control, Arrest and Search Procedures, Use of Force Procedures, Tactical progression, Weapon Handling, and High-Risk Operation that the recruits were introduced to.
“The new practical approach to the training of recruits is geared towards equipping the trainees with modern policing skill sets to deal with crime and criminals,” he stressed.
He reiterated that in the same ambiance of creating healthy police–public relations that “the current Police Administration recognises the important role that communities can play to help deal with all forms of crimes. It is said that to every crime that is committed, there is one public eye that sees it.”
To the public, COP Awuni said very soon they will see the intensification of police motorbike patrols at every nook and cranny of the country, as part of measures put in place by the Inspector-General of Police to revitalize police visibility and accessibility patrols.
He congratulated the 230 recruits, of which Twenty (20) are Under-cadets, particularly the award winners, saying: “It is my firm belief that you will carry this show of hard work and discipline to your field of work as true ambassadors of the current policing training model.”
Out of the 230 recruits, 74 were male and 136 were female. The topmost awards were picked up by General Recruit Samuel Adu Benchie (Best Graduate Recruit) and Police Woman Recruit Gifty Boahemaa Kwapong (Best in Academics).
