Recruitment In The Police Service

Continued from last week
Applicants who satisfy all requirements are formally contacted trough a letter informing them of further arrangements and procedures. Usually, qualified applicants are made to report at the various police training schools where successful applicants undergo physical body selection, height checks and relevant documents carefully scrutinized and verified by a competent Police Enlistment Team.

Written Examination
Successful completion of the above stage qualifies applicants to participate in a written examination. Candidates are examined in English Language, Mathematics and General Knowledge. This is carried out in a transparent, free and fair manner where the answers are marked and results declared on the same day.

Ordinarily, candidates who pass the examination should be breathing a sigh of relief since they may be half-way through the recruitment exercise. Qualified applicants are nominally and positively vetted at the Headquarters of the Criminal Data Services Bureau (CDSB) of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). The former takes fingerprints of applicants to ascertain the authenticity or otherwise of their criminal records as provided on the enlistment forms. The latter may involve but not limited to painstaking investigations into the background of the applicant.

At this point, prospective recruits are required to undergo a thorough medical screening exercise at the Police Hospital, to be declared medically fit by medical experts.

Training
Recruits are now set for training in any of the training schools across the country. These schools have been tasked with the responsibility of training recruits into becoming full fledged police personnel for the Service. Recruits then go through an intensive prescribed minimum training period of six months. Whilst on training, it must be noted that those who exhibit unprofessional conducts could be dismissed without looking back.

Appointments
A recruit qualifies for appointment to an established post in the Service on satisfactory completion of the specified training programme.  Here, a letter of appointment is addressed to the person appointed; and a recruit constable on his first appointment is supposed to serve a probationary period of 18 months after which he/she may be confirmed in his post – subject to a report of satisfactory work and conduct given by his/her head of Department or Unit under whom the personnel serves. In the same way, appointment could also be terminated in the case of unsatisfactory probationary service of personnel.

Graduate Entrants
The Police Administration does recruit graduates with varying academic disciplines from accredited universities and colleges. Some of these academic areas may include Psychology, Sociology, Administration, Human Resource Management, Accounting, Finance and many more, depending on the vacancies available and the special needs of the Service. These categories of people are attracted through the placement of advertisements in the media.

All the criteria required for general recruitment mentioned earlier may still persist, apart from some few exemptions. Graduate applicants should not exceed 30 years of age. Again, the heights required in this instance may not necessarily be a prerequisite for selection, since they are to occupy supervisory and managerial positions in the Police Service. After a careful processing of certificates and documents, aptitude test and interviews are conducted for-shortlisted applicants.

Appointment letters are issued to successful applicants together with specified schemes of service. The employed graduates undergo medical screening, nominal and positive vetting as is required in the general recruitment.

Training For Graduate Entrants
They may not necessarily go through the basic prescribed training of six months as the general recruits, but they also undertake a three-month training programme, all targeted at resourcing them with fundamentals of law enforcement and practical knowledge in policing.

Applicants at this stage are referred to as Under Cadet Sergeants, where they are entitled to a direct entry to the Police Academy through accelerated promotion. Upon a successful completion of the basic training programme, the Under Cadet Sergeants undergo a 12-month practical attachment to be monitored and supervised by their respective Heads of Departments or Units. Personnel who exhibit satisfactory work and conduct at the end of the practical attachment get promoted to the rank of Inspector.

Recruitment Of Professionals And Specialists

Unlike the recruitment of persons for the core policing functions, professionals in diverse fields are periodically employed to perform the supportive policing functions. They may consist of personnel from the medical, legal, architectural, public relations and any other profession that will be required by the Service.

All entry requirements pertaining to the graduate entrants are applicable to this category of persons. As usual, once they are entering the Service to perform some specialized roles, the issue of height may not be very relevant, although a standard height may be an added advantage. Ordinarily, the required heights for professionals and specialists are 5 feet 6 inches for males and 5 feet 3 inches for females.

These categories of applicants are interviewed by an Appointment and Promotions Board, where persons who satisfy all requirements get appointed as Officer Cadets normally with a minimum rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) bestowed on them. Since they need to fill certain professional gaps in the service, at least a three-month Officer Cadets Course is enough to raise them as police officers, though working as professionals.  The Officer Cadets are normally promoted to the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) after their training programme and probationary service.

Civilian Employees
Certain times, persons who apply to fill or hold key professional positions and vacancies in the Police Service, yet above the age of 40, are employed as civilian employees. Persons in this category do not don police uniform as the others, but may be placed along the Service's ranking system, dependant on their qualifications.

In all, the police do not do any clandestine recruitment and enlistment as is generally perceived. All recruitment exercises are carried out in an open and fair manner. Therefore, individuals or group of persons who parade themselves as recruitment liaisons and defraud unsuspecting persons, in the guise of securing them employment in the Police Service must be cautioned. Secondly, such miscreants if suspected, must be reported to the nearest police station. Again, it must be emphasized that the Ghana Police Service does not outsource its recruitment exercise therefore, those who easily fall to the schemes and deceptions of recruitment fraudsters do so at their own peril.

Police Deputy Chief of Staff C/Supt. Francis Aryee, at the Police Headquarters has advised that the Police Service is a noble profession, a vocation and one of the numerous avenues for people to serve the public, therefore anyone who wishes to enter it is welcomed. However, the one must be ready to sacrifice all personal interests for national interest even at the peril of his/her own lives.

By ASP Effie Tenge
 
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