Government to build capacity of police-Veep

Accra, June 1, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama, said on Monday that government had plans to build the capacity of the Ghana Police Service, to respond decisively to criminal activities. He said the current crime wave needed a well equipped, efficient and highly motivated police service to act professionally. Mr Mahama was discussing the situation, including the Bawku crisis, at a meeting with the Minister of the Interior, Mr Cletus Avoka and the Inspector General of Police, Mr Paul Quaye at the Osu Castle. Mr Mahama said the Police Council, would soon be inaugurated to facilitate efforts to raise the morale of the service, capacity building and attachment of personnel to foreign police services, to enhance intelligence gathering.

Mr Avoka charged the police to be proactive and go beyond just relying on statements from witnesses to prosecute cases in courts. He said, for example, the basic training of the police should motivate them to visit accident and crime scenes promptly, to gather evidence to enable effective prosecution.

Mr Avoka stressed that if no new materials were added to cases and the police only went to the courts to tell the judges that they were still investigating, it would not be enough to hold back judges from granting bail to suspects.

"If such a thing happens the police should not complain that judges are not co-operating with them."

The IGP said the capacity building process in the service like many other organisations was vital and very important. He said such attitude should permeate the police service to give the organisation the image that all Ghanaians were yearning for.