Abusive police officers must be prosecuted - CCE

The Center for Citizens Empowerment, CCE, a non-governmental organisation, has condemned in no certain terms the brutality of the client of Midland Savings and Loans, Madam Patience Osafo, by Lance Corporal Godzie Frederick Amanor.

The civil society group stated that the assault on “Madam Osafo must be a wakeup call for the nation to treat seriously cases involving acts of abuse by public security officers”.

In a statement released in Accra, the group said personnel of state security agencies must be made to understand that, they are armed and trained to protect citizens and not to intimidate or abuse them at the least provocation.

It added that Madam Osafo’s case is “one out of hundreds of cases of police assault which go unnoticed”.

The CCE has, thus, called for the prosecution of state security personnel who flout the country’s laws with impunity.

The group argued that failure to whip defaulting police officers in line will only embolden them to continue to mishandled helpless unarmed citizens.

Background



Lance Corporal Godzie Frederick Amanor was arrested on Friday after he was filmed brutalizing a client of the Midland Saving & Loans.

The audiovisual recording went viral on social media sparking public outrage against the police officer who according to them should be protecting not brutalizing citizens.

The dastardly acts by the police officer also drew condemnation from a number of civil society organizations including; Amnesty International, Ghana Bar Association, the Ministry for Gender Children and Social Protection.

Reports say the victim, Patience Osafo, was reportedly trying to withdraw money after office hours due to alleged frustrations from the bank.

Her insistence to withdraw her GHC 270.00 that day resulted in the assault by a police officer after she refused to leave the banking hall with her grandchild.

Patience Osafo subsequently lodged a formal complaint at the Legon Police Station after she was led to do so due to the huge public interest in the case.