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 A group picture of participants after the ceremony. Picture: EDNA ADU-SERWAA
A group picture of participants after the ceremony. Picture: EDNA ADU-SERWAA

Fifty police prosecutors complete training in Accra

Fifty police prosecutors have completed a four-week-capacity training programme in Accra, during which they were taken through criminal law, prosecution of offences and law enforcement.

The participants were drawn from the 11 police administrative regions across the country.

The training was organised by the Law and Development Associations (LADA) Institute, with funding support from the United States through the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, to improve the competence and confidence of police prosecutors.

It is the final part of a $1-million project to train 300 Ghanaian police prosecutors over a year. The project is also expected to increase the confidence of the public in the criminal justice system.

Participants  

At the closing ceremony last Thursday, some of the participants who spoke on behalf of the regions they represented commended the organisers and the Police Administration for the programme.

Chief Inspector Victor Dosoo of the Accra Regional Police Command described the programme as an eye opener which would help prosecutors not to lose sight of evidence which would aid them in the prosecution of cases.

A participant from the Upper East Region, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Isaac Kojo Forson, said the practical aspect of the training, which included exercises such as mock prosecution and court visits, made it easy for the prosecutors to grasp some concepts related to the work of police prosecution.

He said the programme enabled the participants to better appreciate the impact of prolonged detention of suspects or accused persons which, among others, was an indictment on suspects’ human rights.

Impact 

The Director of the Legal and Prosecution Unit of the Ghana Police Service, Chief Superintendent of Police Mr Benjamin Osei Addae, urged the participants to put the knowledge gained from the training to good use.

The Chief Director of the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department, Mr Suleiman Ahmed, who was the guest speaker, said currently there were 34 state criminal prosecutors in the Greater Accra Region and 44 in the other regions who, unlike their colleagues in Accra, handled both criminal and civil cases, hence the need to train more police prosecutors to ensure efficiency in the justice delivery system. 

He urged the prosecutors to endeavour to detach their emotions from cases they handled and abide by the law in the prosecution of cases.

More funds 

In his remarks, the Managing Director of the LADA Institute, Mr Mark Ofori-Amanfo, said due to the success chalked up, the institute had received close to $1.5 million to expand the project for another one year.

Under the second phase, he said, 150 more police prosecutors would be trained from January 2017, after which the institute would undertake a monitoring exercise to find out how the training was impacting their work.

He hinted that there were plans to expand the programme and incorporate it into the Ghana Police College programme.

 

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