Police Ladies Association commends winner of UN Award

The Police Ladies Association (POLAS), has commended Superintendent of Police, Mrs Phyllis Ama Tebuah Osei of the Ghana Police Service, who is currently serving with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), for winning the UN Female Police Officer of the Year Award.

It said Mrs Osei’s hard work in Somalia had enhanced the image of the Ghana Police Service as a whole, POLAS in particular and the country in general.

Sterling qualities

In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra last Wednesday, the President of the POLAS, Commissioner of Police (COP), Mrs Beatrice Zakpaa Vib -Zanziri said Mrs Osei’s selection was based on her sterling qualities which attracted the UN and that was a true manifestation of the role policewomen played in and outside the country.

The award aims to establish a role model for women police peacekeepers and to promote the UN Secretary General’s Gender Parity Strategy and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations’ (DPKO’s) Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy through encouraging member-states to deploy more female police officers to peacekeeping and special political missions.

She said Mrs Osei was selected for the award as her policing work directly and positively impacted the community and the host state police in Jubaland, Somalia.

Peace and security

COP Vib Zanziri said police women played vital role in bringing peace and security to the communities they served as women often approached and solved problems from different angles as compared to their male counterparts.

She said the current police administration recognised and considered such attributes as vital components for the transformation agenda which sought to build a robust policing system that would not only be the best in Africa but also one of the best in the world.

She urged POLAS members to emulate the shining example of Mrs Osei by working hard to impart on the communities they served.

The award, that recognised Ms Osei, was presented to her during a ceremony co-hosted by the United Nations Police Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations on Monday, November 19, 2018, in New York.

Support to female peacekeepers

The UN described Mrs Osei as an officer who “has been particularly successful at initiating an adult literacy training for 49 female police officers in Jubaland, Somalia.”

The training’s overall goal was to improve their literacy and increase their chances for future promotions, and she also formed a Female Peacekeeper Network (FPN) within UNSOM and the African Union Mission in Somalis (AMISOM) to provide support to female peacekeepers.

The United Nations Police Adviser, Commissioner Luis Carrilho, praised the awardee for her exemplary conduct, saying “Mrs Osei was deployed to Somalia earlier this year in February 2018.

“By April, she had already identified and trained two gender focal points in AMISOM who went on to mentor and advise police officers in the host state police, thereby contributing to the building of a much-needed capacity”, he said.

According to Mr Carrilho, soon after, Mrs Osei established four gender desks in the host state police, facilitated a training on sexual and gender-based violence and initiated a proposal that called for the establishment of a police post near the community, thus ensuring access for SGBV survivors.

He explained that nominations were requested annually from all peacekeeping and special political missions where UN police are deployed.

Based on the criteria for high performance, a selection committee comprising policing and peacekeeping experts evaluate the conduct and achievements of the nominees with an emphasis on impact of policing service delivery.

Background

Mrs Osei worked in various units in the Ghana Police Service before taking up the appointment at UNSOM where she generally exhibited excellence, working as a Psychologist and Counsellor to both Police Officers and victims of abuses.

She also worked as the liaison officer at the Joint Operation Centre where she excellently coordinated several special operation duties between the Ghana Police Service and other sister security agencies in Ghana.

She is also a trainer and had worked at the Ghana Police Academy as a Lecturer and a Directing Staff at the Police Command and Staff College.