Police commissions helipad at headquarters

The Ghana Police Service yesterday commissioned a helicopter landing platform (Helipad) at the forecourt of the National Operations Centre at the Police Headquarters in Accra.

The first of its kind for the service, the helipad will boost its operations by air lifting personnel to emergency areas and to ensure their quick deployment to distressed areas.

Although the Ghana Police Service is yet to acquire any helicopter, its personnel, in their full riot control gear, tactically disembarked from a Ghana Air Force MI 171 SH Russian made helicopter in a demonstration of how to deal with emergencies.

The armed police personnel after the inauguration of the helipad, also in a tactical manner, went aboard the helicopter, which landed in a swift way to carry the personnel to a seeming conflict zone. On board the flight were the Minister of the Interior, Mr Kwesi Ahwoi and the Inspector General of the Police, Mr Mohammed Ahmed Alhassan.

Although the force of the wind from the propellers of the helicopter pushed some of the people standing by away, the police personnel in a show of resilience, a proof of constant training and battle readiness, boarded the helicopter.

Mr Ahwoi had told journalists that the move was to deepen the existing collaboration between the police and the military and also to get the police in readiness to maintain law and order at all times.

He promised that when resources were available, the government would provide the police with its own helicopters.

According to Commissioner of Police (COP), Mr James Oppong-Boanuh, who is responsible for Services, the helipad would facilitate the use of air access in emergency deployment and re-inforcement in times of violent conflicts and armed robbery.

Daily Graphic/Ghana