Police Service to deploy officers to fight corruption on roads

James Oppong-Boanuh, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), has said the Police Service (GPS) would deploy supervisory officers to monitor various check points as part of measures to fight corruption.

He said the monitoring team would comprise both uniformed and plain-clothes police officers to enhance effectiveness and make the officers easily approachable by the public to lodge complaints.

“Highway patrol, traffic barriers, and snap check points would be under the supervision of senior police officers at assigned duty points,” he said.

The IGP said this in an address at the opening session of a day’s workshop jointly organised by the Police and the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to sensitise senior police officers on the National Anti- Corruption Action Plan (NACAP) in Accra.

He said a taskforce has also been created to interview drivers, passengers and other road users to gather intelligence of corrupt practices of officers on roads.

The IGP urged the Senior Officers to make themselves accessible to receive such complaints from victimized road users and the public.

He said to ensure accountability, the Service has put out contact lines, social media platforms links through which the public could share information on officers found in compromising situations.

Mr Oppong-Boanuh said the Service has strengthened its disciplinary measures to deal with any officer found to have extorted monies from drivers or compromised his position in anyway.

“The Central Disciplinary Board of the service has been cleared of all back-log cases which has not been the practice previously. This shows how ready and serious the Board is to deal with such officers who fall short of its disciplinary standards,” he said.

The IGP said the involvement of senior officers across the country in the fight showed the police readiness to ensure that the implementation of NACAP was successful.

He called for the support of the public in the fight against corruption within the Service.

Commissioner of Police (COP) Mr Nathan Kofi Boakye, Director General of Research, Planning and Transformation of the Service, said the Police was working to ensure that its ranking as the most corrupt institution in the country changes, adding that the IGP since his assumption of office is working hard to ensure that corrupt practices within the service was a thing of the past.

“After this we are moving into implementation,” COP Boakye said, adding that the officers at the end of the workshop would know what NACAP is, as well as its strategic approaches.

Mr Richard Ackom Quayson, Deputy Commissioner of CHRAJ, said the public expected much from the Police Service in the fight against corruption.

He said the Service should aim at building a force, which is focused on its vision, mission and core values to strengthen its operations and law enforcement within and across the nation.

Mr Quayson said it is very unfortunate for the service to be tagged with corruption even though many officers were working with integrity as highlighted in its core values.

The Deputy Commissioner said it is important to fight to create a stronger and cleaner image of the Police Service.