Police Will Deal Ruthlessly With Miscreants - IGP

By Bernice Bessey

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante-Apeatu, says the police administration will, henceforth, deal ruthlessly with miscreants, and warned criminal-minded persons who have taken delight in attacking law enforcement officers to desist from the practice.

"Let me sound a stern warning to all criminal-minded persons who think officers of the Ghana Police Service can be objects of attacks, to revise their notes," the IGP warned.

According to him, the fact that the Police Service is a law enforcement agency does not mean it should keep mute over the senseless killings of officers in uniform, as well as attacks on police posts and stations.

Mr. Apeatu's warning came on the heels of the killing of one policeman and injury to another at Lapaz, a suburb of Accra, recently. "My message to all these miscreants is that, we have collectively resolved to reverse this trend of action. The officers and men of the service will not be cowed to allow lawlessness to take over this country that we all cherish as ours," he said.

He used the occasion to thank the officers for restraining themselves from reprisal attacks, a character often associated with uniformed officers when they are attacked or their authority challenged.

IGP David Asante-Apeatu was speaking at the passing out parade for 618 police recruits at the National Police Training School in Accra over the weekend.

The new police personnel, according to him, went through intense and cutting-edge contemporary policing discipline to shape and equip them with the requisite knowledge and capacity to meet modern standards in law enforcement.

"Child Friendly Policing Initiative" is one of the new courses the police administration has introduced to address juvenile issues in the country.

He charged the new police personnel to put up their best in the performance of their duties, but cautioned that the police profession was not an easy one for a myriad of reasons, and that the new personnel must prepare themselves mentally for the task ahead.

"You will be confronted with varied challenges, including indecision and wrong judgment. This job will demand your full life, with very little space for leisure," he advised.

To position the Police Service to be one of the best in the world, he indicated that the police administration was pursuing a robust and strategic transformation agenda, aimed at actualising the vision of the service.

Thus, the Police Service would be capacitated to deliver a planned, democratic, protective and peaceful services that would meet international standards.

In line of this, he said, the government had designed 13 strategic goals to prioritise the vision of the service, in the area of welfare and professional development, revamp the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), emboldening Community Policing, and strengthen and professionalise Police Intelligence and Professional Standards (PIPS).

To him, a professional personnel was the one who was abreast with contemporary issues, technologies and matters that concerned the environment, and tactics evolving around politics.

Read Full Story