IGP promises better protective equipment for officers

The Inspector-General of Police, Mr David Apeatu has promised to equip the Police force with the most modern safety gadgets to protect them from criminals.

The promise comes in the wake of recent killings of police by armed robbers in various parts of the country.

He said this at the launch of 'Transformation Programme' of the Ghana Police Service on Tuesday at the Alisa Hotel in Accra.

According to him, factors such as “high unemployment and the movement of people across West African countries, the emergence of the internet and e-commerce,” have prompted the need for “a new type of police officer and a new policing to manage the situation.”

The vision of the Ghana Police Service under the transformation programme “is to be a World class police service capable of delivering planned, democratic, protective and peaceful services up to standards of international best practice.”

The Police force is encouraged to embark on this transformation process with the help of the thirteen strategic goals stated in the ruling National Patriotic Party’s manifesto.

The transformation aims at making the Ghana Police Service a world-class security organization, “the best in Africa, and amongst the top ten [police services] in the world, in ten years,” he added.

Currently, the Ghana Police Service is ranked 8th in Africa and 87th among 127 countries according to a survey conducted by World Internal security and Police Index.



In a quest to redeem its image in the Transformation Programme, the Ghana Police Service is looking at the rate of crime in the country, the citizens’ safety in their communities and the response of the police in emergency situations, as key performance indicators, towards achieving their goals.

Provisions will be made available to the police under the programme to ensure the safety of police personnel and manage the rampant killing of police officers in the line of duty.

The Ghana Police Service suffers logistics challenges such as the lack of bullets and bulletproof vests and the transformation programme aims at addressing all of these challenges.

The programme is part of government’s efforts to improve the police force to enhance its efficiency in protecting the entire citizenry.