Of Science, Security and Police (3)

Summary:
Public Confidence
Guantanamo/Abou Graibi centers.
Up-grading Immigration procedures
Restoring Public confidence:
Despite its manifold external and internal problems, the Ghana Police Service has stayed on course "to ensure a proactive and professional approach to the prevention and detection of crime, protection of life and property and the apprehension and prosecution of offenders." (quote: Ghana Police Web-site) Its performance has attracted world-wide acclamation. Recent findings of INTERPOL record Ghana as the country to have the lowest crime rate in the African Commonwealth Region. (Source INTERPOL Analysis 2004), says The Police Watch Magazine.
The Service also prides itself on the newly established Women and Juvenile Unit more popularly known as WAJU. Established in October 1998, WAJU responds to the increasing number of cases of abuse and violence against women; and its role in the HIV/AIDS eradication programme. Candidates for peer education were selected from all police administrative regions who in turn provided training sessions to the rest of the force. Those selected were provided training in health education, promotion of condom use, VCT promotion and media distribution. The highlight of the programme was the creation of 6000 condom wallets that were worn by the police personnel during patrolling. It applauded Ghana Police College for its quality teaching practices, helping to up-grade standards in the service: The taught subjects are Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Law of Evidence, Criminal Investigations, Practical Police Duties, Criminology, Sociology, and English/general paper, Psychology, Map Reading, Health Education, Acts & Decrees and Financial Administration. The course also offers the cadet officers training in musketry.
On Ghana Police Service peacekeeping missions, it says The Ghanaian Contingent of the International Civilian Police (CIVPOL) has served peacekeeping missions around the world including Liberia, Namibia, Cambodia, Kuwait, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, East Timor and Haiti crediting the service as one of the most acclaimed peace keeping forces. The force was specially lauded for its efforts in 2004 by the United Nations for its work in Liberia. However, Ghanaian tabloids, like Chronicle has been quite critical about alleged corruption practices in the service.
In view of mounting public criticisms of the service, its internal investigation team, must be reorganized as a matter of urgency, to salvage its integrity and prestige.
(1) The team must vigorously pursue investigations relating to the conduct of service personnel, and inspections of organizational components. Offenders must severely be sanctioned, including communal sentence terms and demotions.
(2) The service must advise its governance to explore measures to train and upgrade municipal/town police service units to work in partnership with the service, taking over minor police duties;
(3) Advise on the need of installation of radar (flashing camera), under traffic lights, and other vantage points to handle such traffic controls to free servicemen to undertake special duties; this radar system which would check indiscipline drivers and also save lives, could provide additional income to beef-up police coffers.
(4) Community policing initiatives must be reorganized and its programmes intensified to help restore public confidence, and protect lives.
(5) The police service governance must explore measures to equip the service with modern high tech systems, modernizing amount others, its information technology system to help improve its information management and information resources.
(6) That the Police Service working environment should be improved to high require standards, to raise the morals of service men and also serious efforts made to improve their working conditions. Parliamentary Select committee for Interior, I will suggest, should visit the nearby Accra District/Regional Offices of Police, to secure first hand information on environmental working conditions in the service.
(6b) that the law should be toughened to zero in on the assets of gangsters, engaged in narcotics, and money laundering and other organized crimes.
(7) That rigorous road traffic regulations and management, including vehicle road worthiness should be reinforced to ensure road safety (this is an area where funds could be raised to improve policing in interest of society): several trucks and cars deadly Co2 emissions, thus contributing to already highly polluted atmosphere, leading to destruction of the environment, must be kept-off the roads.
(7b) With criminality becoming more complex, the Police must plan ahead to take to the skies with acquisition of a ‘chopper’ equipped with modern tools, including night vision instrumentation that allows officers wearing night-vision goggles to see in the dark; a gamma radiation detector and possibly with a special map system, powerful video cameras that can downlink pictures to its central systems to improve its functioning, while its amour squad unit reinforced.
In addition, Ghana Immigration procedures at the Airport need to be streamlined-- complete overhaul. Investment should be made to acquire modern equipments, including hi-tech coping machines, to control in-coming/out-going traffic to reduce present inconveniences and strains. Video surveillance equipments must be installed, where possible, while fillings of disembarkation forms--an outmoded system-- discarded. There are too much unnecessary security-duplication checks, which might cause damage to Ghana’s tourist business. (USA has already lost near billion dollars, because of stringent security measures. Ghana cannot afford to loose).
Guatanamo centers in Ghana?
Detention centers: Heavens, detention centers known as “police cells” and prisons in Ghana are worst than the Guantanamo military base and that of Iraq’ Abou Graibi prison: agencies engaged in human rights issues, Red Cross and possibly Parliamentary Select Committee should, as a matter of urgency, conduct inspections and investigations to improve conditions at these places, where suspects and inmates are treated worst than baboons. In view of the Para-military nature of the Police and Prisons services, there is the need for transparency and accountability in the detention and custody systems, most of the time, a subject of less public concern.
In civilized societies like France and Switzerland and Britain, Psychologists, Lawyers and other social workers are given a chance to conduct random checks to ensure that, rights of detainees or prisoner are not violated. In France, especially, Selected Judges have been appointed to see to revision of prisoner’s cases and hearings are conducted in prison, in presence of Social workers and Prosecutors. This helps to reduce over-crowing in prisons.
I t should be noted that, prisons are designed not only to administer punishment, but to play roles of rehabilitation, that persons denied of their liberties, should not be subjected to additional sentences in forms of humiliations and violations of their fundamental human rights. Prisoner should be assisted, either through professional training or provision of other educational alternatives to be rehabilitated back into society, after serving their sentences.
Ghana needs a super police, exhibiting highest personal integrity, coupled with application of high professional standards: that the war against crime could only be won, when the battle-field, mined with social inequalities, lack of social structures and improvement in the living conditions and unemployment, have been improved. Nature must be reconciled with science and technological innovations to benefit society.
A note of caution: the jungle king, the lion can be eaten by his worst enemy, the hyena, when the king drops dead, and the ‘African tiger’ can be out-classed on a 100 meters race by the cheetah, with his 80 kilometers per hour take-off. Prevention is better than cure, says the wise old lady.

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.