Police Chiefs Meet

A tow-day national police conference is underway at the Police Headquarters in Accra, with a reminder from the Interior Minister, William K. Aboah, for salvaged and accident vehicles to be cleared off the frontage of all police stations across the country.

In a speech delivered during the opening of the conference by the Deputy Interior Minister, Kobby Acheampong on his behalf, Mr. Aboah reminded the Police Administration of his earlier call for such vehicles to be removed from police stations across the country.

He said the order had not been fully complied with and charged the Inspector General of Police, Paul Tawiah Quaye, to institute a measure to ensure full compliance.

The conference is the arena for the police hierarchy to gather and take critical decisions to the benefit of the service and the nation as well.

It is therefore a conducive platform for regional police commanders to apprise the Police Administration and the nation at large on measures, policies, mechanism and strategies they have put in place in their various jurisdictions in preparation towards an envisaged incident-free, fair and peaceful polls in December.

The conference, which is being held under the theme ‘Election 2012- State of Preparedness of The Ghana Police Service’, seeks to take stock or review activities and plans that would inure to the sustenance of peace before, during and after the December polls.

With 73 day more to go, the minister said the Police Service, the lead agency and custodian of internal security, had so far demonstrated commitment, zeal and preparedness to defend the country at the peril of their lives.

He expressed hope that the police would put their rich expertise and resilience to play come December to overcome the daunting task ahead of them to ensure secured polls.

He warned against complacency, reminding them that this year’s election might not necessarily be the same as previous ones.

IGP Paul Tawiah Quaye said there could not be any better time than this to hold such a conference since it afforded the service the opportunity to take stock of the past and evaluate its performance in order to identify its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The conference would offer the service the platform to take strategic plans for the future.

He observed that pieces of information gathered at the conference would be put into the final comprehensive operational order which would be used in guiding the effective and efficient utilization of available resources at the national level.

The IGP expressed worry over the upsurge of communal violence recently and observed that if the situation was not handled well, it might degenerate into a serious problem affecting national security, while thwarting the national effort to consolidate democratic governance in the country.

A representative of UNDP, Lawrence Lachmansighn, advised the police to be proactive instead of being reactive in their work, to ensure that devastating situations were prevented.

Jens-Peter Dyrbak, a Senior Governance Advisor at the British High Commission, among several local and foreign dignitaries, was there to grace the occasion.