Born Just For Police Or We Are For Other Things As Well?

What shows that one is born for a particular profession - the police, military, banking, nursing and all others you can think of?

We may love our job with passion, commitment and dedication but is always a miscalculation and misjudgement that man is born for one particular profession. It is never true. This is a free world where the versatiles and adaptables rule their world as kings and queens but the mentally restricted ones remain in self inflicted slavery till they die with good deposits of talents and knowledge in them.

He travelled all the way from North to Sekondi for police enlistment. He had tried on several occasions but failed. Any attempt he made, they told him he is too short to be enlisted into the police service.

The Sekondi enlistment was do and die affairs. It's no retreat, no surrender. He will demonstrate his commitment, dedication and love for police work. After long wait in the queue, it finally got to his turn and he stepped forward full of confidence and hopes. One of the police officers told him "looks like I have seen you before" but he put on "gbonyo face" and walked straight to where they were taking the height. This time too, no matter how hard he stretched his neck, his missed out by an inch.

He suddenly knelt down and pleaded "officer I beg you. You can just give me the police uniform and take the salary. I want to be a police. I love this job please! please!! please!!! as he cries out loud. The senior police officer in charged the enlistment angrily said "take this armed robber from my sight. Thief! These are the guys who use the police uniform for robbery and other violent crimes. Fool! Just as the police officer commanded, he was held waist high like a thief and indeed, he was thrown out of enlistment centre. Be gone! One of the police officers said.

As he sat in the vehicle to Accra, he wept a lot. This is not the first, second, third and fourth time he is trying to join the police without fail. He has made several attempts and upon connections but still didn't work out. He has reduced his age and hid all his certificates but still to no avail. Here is he labelled as an armed robber by a police officer who doesn't even know him. Why shouldn't he forget about the police and try something else? It could just be that he is not born to be a police officer as he thinks after all. He concluded.

In Accra, he did menial jobs whilst searching for well paid one. Not quite long he landed for a job with one of the reputable International Banks in Ghana. With his qualifications, he was soon made the Managing Director West Africa. It was with the bank that he counted his stars for not joining the police after all. He was damn lucky.

Here is a calm and gentle police sergeant who always comes to the bank on duty. He one day approached the sergeant and told him about how he had a long time ambition to be a police but things didn't work out the way he wanted it till he joined the bank. It was in the conversation with the police sergeant that he got to know that the police officer has better qualifications than him plus other professional certificates.

When the police sergeant mentioned his academic qualifications, his jaw dropped and his mouth gaped. He offered him an opportunity to join his bank but do you know what the police officer said? "I am born to be a police officer and it's either police or nothing else".

It is because birds of the same feathers flock together, this police sergeant and bank manager became lifetime friends until one day this sergeant went on operations and was later interdicted for a very long time. His rank was stripped back to corporal but even that the sergeant kept his hopes till he was struck down with a disease and died.

His ambitions of becoming a senior police officer never fulfilled despite all the knowledge he acquired with good intentions to help the police service should he have been given the opportunity to become a senior police officer. Wishes they say are never horses for the poor and beggars ride to them.

As at the time the gentleman from the North was telling me this story, they had buried the sergeant just one week after. He could not control his emotions and shed a lot of tears and considered himself lucky for not joining the police actually. He recounted the number of times even him as a managing director was offered financial and management advice by this sergeant for free. Several marketing projects that is police sergeant helped him to draft were uncountable. He attributed most of his success in the banking sector to this police sergeant. He marvelled at the knowledge this sergeant went into grave with when he could have been given the opportunity to serve the police with.

The late sergeant is just one of thousands of junior police officers who are over qualified to be in the police but strangely enough, they believe that they are born for police and the police is made for them. They have the degrees, masters, PhDs and all the professional certificates plus 10,15, 20 years and above experiences in policing. Despite all these rich human resource capital which can be tapped at a very low cost, the police service will by pass these over qualified police officers and go for "green" graduates who in no time are rather given the opportunity to rise to become senior police officers. When you ask why, a certain PRO will tell you that "y3 wo ananse a oyi akwan ne ananse opae bo". They will tell you that you went to the school without their permission.

It is only the police service that they threaten to take disciplinary actions against their members for going to schools to upgrade themselves. Something that eventually brings enormous benefits to the police service whether they accept their certificates or not. Sometimes your senior officers are irritated by the mere fact that you are a degree or masters holder and comes to hate you for no reason at all. How can this be a service with integrity?

I have a lot of junior police officers who are academically intelligent and very rich in policing experiences who are hoping that they will one day become senior police officers but I also keep on telling them that it is enough with police. Try something new other than to waste all the knowledge you have acquired for nothing. Go to where you will be allowed to use your knowledge to impact on the lives of others positively. The purpose of talent and knowledge is to put it into use to advance the cause of mankind and not to waste them with hopes that you want to become senior police officers when it is almost impossible.

I once told a sergeant that he will never know his worth considering his level of education till he leaves the police. After a while he came to me that he wants to leave and penned down resignation. Only God knows how he is a fulfilled being now. He is far far better and richer than when he was in the police.

We all love to be in the police but if the police is not seeing your worth, just leave for where your impact can be felt. We all say we are born for police to show our commitment, dedication and loyalty to the police and that is very good but since we are human beings with ambitions, we are likely to be more frustrated if our ambitions collide with our commitment, dedication and loyalty to the police. We will end up not giving the police our very best and that is the exact time to leave else danger looms as far as our career is concerned.

The fact is that, NO human being is born for police. We only adapt to situations. What would you have done if you had come into this life and there is no profession such as police? The fact is that we are in the police just by chance because those who sometimes love the police more than we do never get the opportunity to join it.

I love my job but I am very versatile and adaptable. Just leave because it could also mean that not all human beings are born to be senior policr officers .

Ahanta Apemenyimheneba Kwofie III [email protected]

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