What we need from the police
THOUGHTS OF A NATIVE DAUGHTER
The Inspector-General of Police, John Kudalor, has been giving assurances that the police administration is committed to making Election 2016 peaceful. But I think we also need guarantees from him regarding another, equally important matter: respect for people’s rights; zero tolerance for police impunity.
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On March 15, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation reported Mr Kudalor as saying at a meeting in Bolgatanga that the administration has launched an ‘IGP’s Dialogue series’. Its aim is to get all the stakeholders to discuss with the police how they can work together to ensure that on November 7, the general election takes place in a peaceful atmosphere.
At that meeting in Bolgatanga with the Upper East Regional police command, the IGP also suggested to the district and regional commanders that they should meet with stakeholders in their areas to know their problems and assist in finding solutions.
Very fine words; extremely reassuring. Best of all is the news that the IGP has been advising his officers to collaborate with the local people to work out solutions to electoral problems.
Nevertheless, I think that of equal concern, or perhaps even more urgent, is the issue of the propensity of some policemen to intimidate and bully people; and extort money from suspects, notably the voiceless and those who have nobody to speak for them.
Despite actions by Police Headquarters over the years to get rid of the rogue police, instances of impunity happen with disturbing regularity. Reports in the media about police mistreatment of people, especially in rural areas, are myriad. Furthermore, the perception is that even when a police officer has committed an offence, the tendency is for the officers handling the case to take the side of their police colleague, or even obstruct efforts to bring the offender to justice.
Take a recent case in Wiamoase, Ashanti, reported by the Ghanaian Times.
In its issue of March 16, the paper reported the bizarre handling of a case involving a policeman accused of defrauding some people in Wiamoase-Amenase, who managed to escape from police custody with ease.
Indeed, the story is so farcical that one would be laughing except that it involves a lot financial losses to the frustrated complainants in the case. There is also the fact that the image of the police is at stake.
The background, according to the Times, is that in 2014, the policeman, named as Samuel Ntim of the Cantonments Police Station, in Accra, allegedly took various sums of money from some people in Wiamoase, incidentally Ntim’s hometown, under the pretext of helping them be recruited into the Police Service.
However, Ntim failed to do so and then went into hiding. Therefore, when recently his alleged victims heard that Ntim had come to the town, they reported the case to the local police, seeking his arrest.
According to the paper, the response of the Wiamoase police was that they could not arrest Ntim, so if the victims could do that, they should. Undaunted, the people were able to arrest Ntim and handed him over to the Wiamoase police. The Wiamoase police then informed the Cantonments Police that they had Ntim in their custody.
When the Cantonments Police asked the Wiamoase Police to transfer Ntim to Accra, the Wiamoase police reportedly asked the complainants to pay for the transportation of the suspect, which the complainants refused to do. They thought it was too much for the police to ask them to pay the fare too, after having had to arrest the suspect themselves.
The citizens’ arrest was on a Saturday and the Wiamoase police then reportedly told the complainants to come back on Monday. They returned on Monday, as directed, only to be told by the police that the suspect had escaped while being accompanied to the toilet. The complainants’ investigations revealed that the suspect had not been handcuffed hence his escape, said the Times.
Naturally, the furious complainants are convinced that the Wiamoase police aided their colleague to escape. And who can blame them?
Does the police training manual say that if a police officer becomes a suspect in a case he or she should be treated differently from other suspects?
Does the police manual say that a complainant has the duty of arresting a suspect after making a report to the police?
Does the police manual say that if a suspect has to be taken to another police station, it’s the responsibility of the complainant to bear the cost of transportation?
And sometimes when one reads about how some of our police treat fellow Ghanaians, how they lord it over the community they’re supposed to serve and protect , not to mention instances of political bias, one wonders how they were recruited and what they were taught during their training.
Elections will come and go, but the need for the public to have confidence in the police is a constant because the police institution is a pillar of the society. It is usually the first point of call in times of trouble. Evidently, if that confidence existed, there would be little need for promises from the police hierarchy in election periods about a peaceful elections atmosphere.
Clearly Mr Kudalor, who was confirmed as IGP on February 19, is determined to continue the good initiatives of his predecessors. This is why I think he should also make it a priority to build and maintain public confidence; to ensure that his personnel, even in remote parts, demonstrate at all times their duty to the public: cordiality, respect, fairness, humility – and professional integrity.
The Writer is a columnist in the Mirror newspaper (Thoughts of a Native Daughter). This article was also published in the April 1, 2016 edition of the Mirror