Police Launches Strategic Plan

Veep John Mahama, Chairman of Police Council

The Vice President, John Dramani Mahama has bemoaned various misdemeanors of some police personnel which have affected majority of their colleagues.

  “The good work of the police service is overshadowed by the bad deeds of a few recalcitrant personnel who have found their way into the organization,” Mr. Mahama lamented.

He stressed the need to assist the police administration to purge itself of the misguided individuals in the service.

Officially launching the five-year strategic National Policing Plan of the Ghana Police Service in Accra, Vice President Mahama said government would support fully the proactive “name, shame, and prosecute” strategy being initiated by the current police administration in curbing such recalcitrant police personnel in the system.

He gave the assurance that government would continue to do its best to support the police and the other security agencies within the confines of its limited budgetary resources.

“We will therefore continue to work with the police administration to identify all possible sources of funding for its programmes,” he pledged.

Vice President Mahama noted that the five-year strategic national policing plan, which is a short to medium term plan, would assist the police administration to enhance its goal of attaining a world –class status.

He outlined four main objectives for the plan, which includes increasing the rates of prevention and detection of crime, speeding up of the apprehension and prosecution of offenders so as to enhance public confidence and satisfaction with the work of the service.

“It would also enhance the capacity of the service to deliver world class services to communities in Ghana and improve upon its human resources by adopting appropriate skills and competencies through the training and development of current personnel and improving upon its internal management practice and physical infrastructure,” Vice President Mahama added.

He also commended the police administration and other security agencies for their work in promoting peace and security in the country.

“What is even surprising is the fact that the personnel of these security agencies work under serious constraints,” he said.

He bemoaned the inadequate personnel to effectively and efficiently police the ever increasing population, inadequate offices and residential accommodation for officers and men of the service.

Other challenges confronting the police service, he noted, include lack of basic infrastructure at the various police training schools, which has lead to the absence of sustained in-service training, obsolete communication gadgets and inadequate transportation, among others.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Paul Tawiah Quaye indicated that on assumption of office, the administration formulated a policy directive to purge itself by systematically identifying the bad nuts within the service to flush them out.

“We have therefore taken a proactive approach to monitor and investigate all such personnel and those found to be culpable of any unprofessional behavior will be named, shamed and prosecuted where necessary,” he stated.

According to him, the police administration has also adopted measures to ensure that future recruitments are handled in a manner that would make it impossible for such dubious characters to join the service.

Giving an overview of the five-year strategic national policing plan, the IGP noted that since 1894, previous administrations had initiated various policies and programmes aimed at ensuring efficient and effective discharge of the mandate of the service.

“Unfortunately, these planned programmes were mostly short term in nature and lacked continuity, resulting in marginal improvements in the service delivery capacity of the police service,” the IGP observed.

He said realizing this unacceptable state of events, coupled with the increasing demand for democratic practices by the Ghanaian public, the police administration decided to act resolutely by developing the first ever five–year strategic plan in 2005 to cover 2006- 2010.

Mr. Tawiah Quaye maintained that the current plan is a revised version of the previous one, stressing that all technical challenges that confronted the full implementation of the original version have been addressed.

By Linda Tenyah