No More Brute Force In Police

CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT Alhaji Mohammed Fuseini Suraji, Director of the Community Policing Unit of the Ghana Police Service (GPS), has deflated the coercive military orientation tag associated with the service, asserting that the use of brute force to enforce law was a thing of the past.

He said the GPS in the performance of maintaining law and order, operated in accordance with national and international laws that take into account respect for human rights.

“In our contemporary days, the Ghana Police Service has now been under enormous pressure to counter the rising tide of organized crimes, traffic indiscipline and carnage, cyber crimes, drug and human trafficking and occultism among others,” Mr. Fuseini stated.

Speaking at the opening of a two-day workshop on community policing in Kumasi, C/Supt. Fuseini Suraji said “citizen-focused policing that meets the expectation of all communities’ vision” had been carved out of the GPS’s five-year strategic national policing plan that spans 2010 to 2014.

According to him, the Community Policing Unit (CPU), as part of the vision, organized the first national conference on community policing, which enabled stakeholders to appreciate that indeed “security is a collective and shared responsibility between the police and community.”

The director added that based on the conference success story, the police administration and its leadership felt the need for the CPU to expand its operations to other regions in the country.

He disclosed that 68 community policing desk officers had been so far trained in the Accra and Tema regions of the police between February and April.

“We have been to the Upper West and East regions, Northern and Brong Ahafo regions and it is the turn of Ashanti and Central regions,” he pointed out.

The Ashanti Regional Police Commander, DCOP Augustine Gyening said the citizen-focused approach of policing would be of enormous benefit to the service.

“This will help us in the intelligence gathering and other information required in dealing with the crime situation in Kumasi suburbs such as Asawase, Aboabo and other areas in the city.”

In all, 42 officers drawn from the various districts across the region formed the bulk of participants who would be taken through topics such as the concept and application of community policing, communication skills and public engagement, and the role and basis for the formation of NWCs among others.