10,000 Policemen Given Name Tags

The Police Administration has started implementing the directive by the Interior Minister, Dr Kwame Addo Kufuur that all police personnel should wear name tags.

Consequently, more than 10,000 name tags have been distributed to police personnel all over the country.

The reasons for the directive are believed to be for easy identification of personnel by the public and to promote professionalism.

Another consignment of the tags is expected soon in the country for distribution, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Samuel Kwesi Ofori, Director of the Police Public Affairs Directorate, told the Times in Accra yesterday.

He said the Police Administration considered the Minister's directive serious and important and responded promptly by sending out circulars to all personnel to comply.

The names and numbers of the constables and sergeants of the service are embroidered on their uniforms, while those from the rank of Inspector and above, including the Inspector General of Police, are embossed on their uniforms.

DSP Ofori warned that any service personnel who fails to wear the tag as directed would face administrative sanction.

He noted that in the past, it was only numerals or number tags that were used but stressed that it has become imperative that names are attached to the numbers to make for easy identification.

Speaking to the Times earlier, Dr Addo Kufuor said as front liners and security personnel, it is necessary that they should be easily identified by their name tags, stressing that like nurses and other professionals who wear name and number tags, it is prudent that police personnel are also easily identified.

At a meeting with the top police hierarchy soon after his appointmentl as the Minister of the Interior, Dr Kwame Addo Kufour, directed that all police personnel wear name and number tags to ensure easy identification.