Police deny training Party Police

Accra, July, 15, GNA - The Police Administration on Thursday said its has not trained any special security body for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) as being alleged by some opposition parties in the country.

Mr Patrick Kwesi Acheampong, Deputy Inspector General of Police In-charge of Operations, who denied the accusation in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said plans for the recruitment of persons into the Ghana Police Service was long overdue.

The low numerical strength of personnel has affected efficiency in the service, he said.

Mr Acheampong said even though recruitment of more personnel into the service was considered by the previous government, logistics were not provided for the exercise.

He said in the budget statement of the previous government in February 1999, the then Finance said, " The Police Service will recruit and train 6,000 additional policemen to augment their current strength and organise command upgrading courses for relevant ranks on yearly basis, especially in vital areas of crime detection and prevention and criminal investigations".

Mr Acheampong said the current recruitment exercise was at the request of the Government so that the Service could increase its number by 4,000 personnel this year, adding that this was backed with the necessary logistics.

He said because of the lack of facilities to train more personnel, the Service used the training grounds at the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), Osu, Accra while the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports gave out a facility at the School of Languages at Ajumako in the Central region for the exercise to meet the recruitment target.

Mr Acheampong said the Upper East Regional Administration allocated unused premises at Pwalugu for the Service, which was now being used as a training centre.

He said another training centre in Kumasi began training recruits last week while plans were advanced to open new training facilities at Tamale and Sunyani in addition to those that the Service has at present in Ho, Winneba, Koforidua and Accra.

On reports that there exist Party Police, the Acting IGP said all the police personnel were being given the general training with the same syllabus.

He, however, stated that there were different units like Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the Police (MTTU), Highway Patrol Unit, Airport Police Water Police and Very Important Person Protection Unit (VIPPU).

Mr Acheampong said the Police had only taken back their traditional role with specialised units whose duties were formerly performed by the military.

He said the VIPPU for instance were part of the Police Service that had been given specialised training besides general police duties to guard VIPs and that they are subject to the Police administration and Police laws and Procedures.

" They need extra training in order to perform some of these functions properly", he said.