Family pressures cause of police involvement in robbery and fraud - Cephas Arthur

The Ghana Police service says societal and family pressures are to blame for the increasing number of personnel engaging in lawlessness including fraud and robbery.

Recently, two policemen who escaped arrest for leading an armed robbery syndicate to attack a GCB Bank Bullion Van at Donkokrom were recaptured amidst protestation from residents who want all cops in the area transferred.

This was closely followed by the arrest of two other policemen by the Accra police command for being part of a car snatching syndicate in connivance with some civilians

But responding to the developments, the Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service Superintendent Cephas Arthur attributes this to the intense pressure and demands from family and society on policemen.

“No matter how stringent your measures of background checks are, you would still get people slipping in, and then it is also not everybody who comes into the service and commits an act of criminality that has a criminal record before coming.

Some people come into the service, they done the uniform and the uniform confers a lot of powers upon them. Powers that they are supposed to use to the benefit of the people and because of pressures of the family, pressures of the society they tend to abuse it. It s not everybody who comes in with the intent to come and commit crime”

He however wants the general public not to lose trust in the force as according to him, the police force is doing its utmost best to rid itself of such bad nuts in the force.