Police build capacity in archival studies, records management
The Police Administration has initiated processes to establish an ultramodern record keeping and archival collections centre.
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The acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr David Asante-Apeatu, made this known at the closing of a two-week workshop on archival studies and records management for selected police personnel in Accra yesterday.
Organised by the Ghana Police Service in collaboration with the Information Studies Department of the University of Ghana, the training discussed specific areas, including documents and information security, safety and confidentiality, reduction in access times, misplacement, misclassification and plain theft.
Archival studies
Mr Asante-Apeatu said as a law enforcement agency, the Police Service could not downplay the importance of archival studies and records management.
He said the course could not have come at any better time than when the Police Administration was steering the service towards the vision of becoming a world-class Police Service capable of delivering planned, democratic, protective and peaceful services up to the standards of international best practice.
Mr Asante-Apeatu said the course outline was very important in oiling the wheels of a huge bureaucracy such as the Police Service to ensure that the Police Administration functioned effectively within the framework of time consciousness.
Information systems
He said bad information systems at various public sector institutions were impeding court processes and justice delivery, creating huge but avoidable conflicts in areas such as land litigation and family inheritance.
The Ag IGP indicated that the police, as a major stakeholder and activator of the criminal justice system in the country, had prioritised the training of relevant personnel in archival studies and records management.
“We expect that henceforth, your performance will lead to significant reduction in access times to files and this means that files, folders and documents contained therein should be properly preserved and secured against all types of threats,” he said.
He entreated men and women of the Police Service to be dedicated, committed and focused in the performance of their duties as that was the only way to reciprocate the benevolence and confidence reposed in the service by the people of Ghana.
Record keeping
For his part, Dr Emmanuel Adjei, a resource person from the University of Ghana, said record keeping in most public sector organisations could appropriately be described as chaotic as some organisations’ record-keeping systems had collapsed totally while others were in disarray.
He indicated that record keeping was the main channel through which the government could be held accountable to the citizenry, adding that transparency and accountability in a democratic society were ultimately achieved by giving the public the right access to information.
He said sound record management was essential in order to conduct office business and make public administration more effective and efficient.
