Poor investigation processes contribute to rising murder cases — Security Analyst

One of the main reasons for the upsurge in murder cases in Ghana is the inability of the Ghana Police Service to improve the investigative processes in data collection, according to Security Analyst Adib Saani.

He said many officers of the Criminal Investigation Department have been lamenting the manual nature of criminal investigations in this 21^st Century.

Mr. Saani, empathizing with the officers wondered why the fingerprints the nation collects during the issuance of some national identity cards are not shared with the police service to enhance the integrity of their investigations.

“Before you get a passport, Ghana card, NHIS card, Health insurance SSNIT ID card, your finger prints will be taken so why don’t we integrate all of these systems as has been promised by the Vice President and make it available under strict conditions to law enforcement [agencies] so that when they get to a crime scene, they can protect the integrity of the crime scene,” he said.

Speaking on Joy Prime television on Tuesday morning, he described as unfortunate the lack of training for some police officers in preservation of crime scenes.

“They get there and are the first to even contaminate it by touching things without gloves,” he intimated.

According to the security analyst, the way some police investigators who are usually the first to arrive at crime scenes walk around and touch certain things even destroy the evidence they could have used to get the culprits.

“Sometimes you see police parade criminals on tv and you see the officers arranging the guns without gloves, all show the lack of training,” he stressed.

He said some lawyers and judges have told him that most of the criminal cases that come before them are usually based on circumstantial evidence but not how solid or watertight the evidence would prove beyond all reasonable doubts that the suspect in custody is the one who really committed the crime.

He added when there are better systems like the use of fingerprints, more criminals would not be thrown back onto the streets to indulge in crimes again.

According to him, unlike in some jurisdictions where the police could tell what crime a criminal arrested had perpetrated in a different state, Ghanaian policemen are unable to tell same.

Mr Adib Saani stated categorically that no government has ever invested in security than the Nana Addo led government mentioning the numerous improvements in the infrastructure of the security set up.

He however noted that as a project officer, what he is enthused about is the outcome of the numerous investments and “how it has translated in the security situation on the ground.”