Train to match challenges posed by criminals – Amissah-Arthur tells Police Service
The Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, has called on the Police Administration to harness its strengths, resources and training to match the complexity of the challenges posed by criminals.
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He acknowledged that crime had increased in sophistication and underscored the urgent need for the police to adopt equal and modern strategies to confront it.
“It is, therefore, proper for the Ghana Police Service to develop the requisite manpower with the aim of acquiring professional and operational skills and knowledge,” he said.
The Vice-President made the call when he inaugurated the Ghana Police Command and Staff College and the ceremony for the maiden course of the college at Winneba in the Central Region yesterday.
The college is structured to offer courses at three levels of management: junior command, intermediate command and senior command (SCC).
An executive management course will also offer training to improve the professional skills and knowledge of senior police officers at operational, tactical and strategic levels.
Earlier, 450 police recruits had passed out at the ceremony.
Daily Graphic/Ghana
Background of the college
Giving the historical background to the college and the need for the facility, Mr Amissah-Arthur said the Police Administration had, over the years, relied on the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, the Nigerian Police Command Staff College and selected foreign institutions to offer senior level training to its officers.
He said it was always the intention of the Police Administration to establish its own command and staff college to create the opportunity for a large number of officers to undertake further and higher training, hence the establishment of the college.
He commended the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Mohammed Ahmed Alhassan, and stakeholders for their role in the establishment of the college.
Special guest
Later in an interview, a member of the Council of State, who was also the Special Guest of Honour, Torgbui Sri III, the Awoamefia of Anlo, urged the first intake of police officers to come out with flying colours, remain dedicated and be abreast of modern techniques in policing to prove that the college was capable of measuring up to other colleges in the developed world.
Torgbui Sri, who is a retired police commander, commended the government for establishing such a command college, the second of its kind in West Africa.
He said the decision by the chiefs of Winneba to provide land for the college must be emulated by other chiefs across the country to break the monotony of concentrating such institutions in Accra.
Police interventions
Mr Alhassan said measures such as the deepening of visibility of the police, the launch of Public Order Units, the establishment of the Marine Unit of the Police Service, the patrols of the cities and urban areas, among others, had contributed immensely to stem crime in the country.
Daily Graphic/Ghana
A version of this article appears in print on November 7, 2013, on pages 32 & 49 of the Daily Graphic with the headline: Train to match challenges posed by criminals - Veep tells police