Budunburam Shooting: Police did not follow operational procedures – Security Analyst

Dean of Academic Affairs of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC), Dr. Vladimir Antwi Danso, has described as unfortunate, recent attacks on police men; the latest, which is the gruesome murder of security personnel in line of duty.

The Security Analyst, however, pinned the incident on negligence and failure on the part of personnel to follow operational procedures.

He believes the situation could have completely been avoided if the Ghana Police Service had put in adequate precautions particularly after the first three incidents.

“It is an unfortunate situation. It is not the first time police men have experienced such attacks but it is becoming more rampant these days. Maybe something is gone amiss. Maybe the police themselves have not taken the necessary precautions. Maybe the miscreants have been more sophisticated and or both.” He averred.

The Ghana Police Service has been hit back to back with tragedies, having some of their men killed in Rambo style by assailants, some of whom are still on the run.

Five police officers have been killed in the past 30 days including one female officer. The recent being two officers who were with the Kasoa Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD); Sergeant Michael Dzamesi and Lance Corporal Mohammed Awal.

The police officers met their untimely death after a hot chase of some three persons in an unregistered vehicle who sped off after they were stopped on the Buduburam stretch of the Accra-Winneba road.

Dr Danso stated that in this particular incident, the deceased policemen did not act more professionally and did not take precaution adding that the assailants realizing the danger they were in could have called for reinforcement from their partners.



Also he believes, the police should have quickly called for backup to have an upper hand in the situation.

The Expert further purported, “They took things for granted, I believe. Here is a situation where bad guys were stopped (but) they didn’t stop. As soon as they didn’t stop then [the] police should have noted that the theatre peril (war area) is more in their hands than the police hands. They knew what they had and that is why they didn’t stop which should tell the police that, hey look these guys think they are better than us.”

“And so go into the theatre with more precaution. I think when they were able to cross the vehicle and make the vehicle stop, what they should have done was ask the occupants of the vehicle to come up with their hands up. Up to a place where the police can go and search them before they search the car. But the situation is that because the people did not stop, they are hardened ones and they knew what they had. They could have stopped them and called for reinforcement before they went chasing them.”

Dr Vladimir Antwi Danso, however posited that the National security, Ministry of Interior and the Police Service are not entirely to take blame because similar instances occur everywhere in the world.

He rather indicated that the problem stems from the orientation, training, as well as the gadgets or weapons used by police personnel.

Advocating the use of artificial intelligence he recommended that, “These days, modern day police use artificial intelligence and I have advocated for artificial intelligence in the past. For example if the police vehicles had cameras we would gotten the whole scenario or if the police helmet had cameras because for example in Britain the batons they are wearing, the helmets they are wearing are all with cameras so the feed is quickly taken.”

He has thus insisted that the Ghana Police Service must have cameras on their cars and on simple gadgets like their watches to help them with their work and prevent future occurrences.