Editorial: The security of police personnel must be tackled head-on

The police administration, on Monday, this week, organised a memorial service for 14 of its personnel who died in the course of executing their duties. The solemn ceremony was attended by President Akufo-Addo and some of his top ministers.
The Chronicle congratulates Mr James Oppong Boanuh, Inspector General of Police (IGP), and his team for conceiving the idea of honouring the fallen heroes and heroines. Though these personnel are dead and gone, the honour will send a strong signal to the living that their efforts to serve the nation would never be in vain.
But, whilst congratulating the IGP and his team, we equally want to draw his attention to lack of adequate protective equipment for his personnel. Until recently, Ghana did not know what is called armed robbery. Ghanaians had the liberty of traveling to all parts of the country at any time of the day without any fear of being attacked by marauding armed robbers.
But with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of almost $60 billion up from $4 billion in 2000, our economy seems to be doing relatively well. This is drawing the attention of economic migrants who come into the country, including criminals. It is, therefore, not surprising that almost 80% of armed robbery cases this country has recorded involved nationals from the other West African countries.
To help win this war against the criminals, police personnel have to be deployed to these robbery-prone areas to fight the robbers. Though the personnel find themselves in life and death situations, they are ordered to fight these robbers, some of who are well armed, without providing them with bullet proof vests. Though one may argue that police personnel are paid to provide internal security, it does not, in our view, mean that they should be sent to the battle field without adequate protective equipment.
A Policewoman, Number 5472, General Corporal Agatha Nana Nabin, of the Tamale Regional Police Headquarters, was, in the night of Tuesday, July 30, 2019, in charge of two other personnel performing snap check duties on the Kumbungu road near the Star Oil Filling Station at the outskirts of Tamale.
She was, unfortunately, gunned down by people suspected to be armed robbers. It is instructive to note that at the time she was shot, she was not wearing a bullet proof vest, which could have probably saved her life. Another police officer, Inspector Emmanuel Ashilevi, was also shot dead at the Kwabenya Police Station in Accra, again, by armed men, because he was not wearing any bullet proof vest.
In some of the cases, guns given to the personnel to fight armed robbers are obsolete and cannot even fire. How a whole Police Service can supply guns to its personnel, which fail when defending themselves against armed robbers is a conundrum Ghanaians are struggling to resolve. All these shortcomings point to the fact that the police personnel assigned to execute difficult task must be well equipped to deal with the situation on behalf of the state.
The Chronicle is, therefore, appealing to the IGP to liaise with his supervising ministry – Ministry of the Interior – for the government to procure adequate bullet proof vests for officers or personnel tasked to fight armed robbers, including those mandated to mount snap checkpoints. The arms issue must also be addressed with the alacrity that it deserves so that our personnel could venture into difficult terrain without any fear of losing their lives.
If the personnel keep on losing their lives because they are not properly clothed or equipped, a time will come when the youth will lose interest in joining the service. Certainly, this is not palatable news we should hear as a country, and that is why the issues concerning the security of police personnel must be tackled head-on.

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