‘A police officer can stop and search a person without delay’ – DSP Afia Tenge clarifies

A police officer on duty can randomly stop and search a person upon reasonable suspicion of having committed a crime, the Ghana Police has said.

The Accra Regional Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Afia Tenge, explained that “police officers on daily basis receive tipoffs on criminal activities and act on these messages accordingly” and therefore they can stop a vehicle and search it and those on board.

She made this known to GhanaWeb on the back of reports of a young woman who claimed to have been harassed by some officers who stopped her Uber vehicle and demanded to search her on Wednesday, July 15, 2020, on the Kokrobite road.

According to Ghanaian food blogger, Zubaida, who took to her Instagram to share her life experience, the officers had no ‘warrant’ to search her, therefore she had ‘the right’ to resist them but according to DSP Afia Tenge, her “aggressive posture was quite suspicious”.

The police officers who were captured in the video managed to bring the young woman to the Kokrobite Police Station as per the rule that policemen do not search women. In the midst of her confrontation with the officers, she was heard saying that she knew her right, leading her to resist the personal search on her by the officers on duty.

Notwithstanding, DSP Afia Tenge stated that a police officer should not be obstructed in the execution of his or her duty if, “the lookout message is directed at the occupant(s) of or the vehicle, they can be arrested and searched without delay despite the inconveniences they may cause to the person arrested.”