Start transferring your officers that have stayed at one station for over 20 years – Peace Watch Ghana to IGP

The Executive Director of Peace Watch Ghana, Madam Nyonkopa Daniels, has called on the Ghana Police Service (GPS) to regularly transfer its officers as part of efforts to ensure equity, efficiency, and balance.

She lamented that there are some officers in certain police jurisdictions who have stayed at one location for over 15 years, a situation she opined was not the best.

“In my opinion, such an act breeds corruption, familiarity, a lack of professionalism, and ineffectiveness.”

She believes officers ought to be transferred regularly so they don’t become complacent in their duties.

The most important thing she suggested is for officers to be given the needed logistics so they can work efficiently.

“The most pathetic part is that some police officers think that policing is just about Accra, and so they don’t want to be transferred to any other location. Ghana moves beyond Accra.

"What the officers should understand is that your transfer could transform the life of someone. It is by law that an officer should not stay at a single location for more than four years. However, some officers have stayed in Accra for more than 20 years, whereas others have stayed in the Northern Region for years without being transferred.

"I will encourage the Police Service to review the work of their officers and transfer those who have stayed in Accra for more than 20 years. When you stay at a location for a long time, you become corrupt. It has to affect every location. Police transfers must rotate.

"Just as when your time for promotion is due and you want us to talk about it, we will also do the same for transfers,” she said while appearing on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM.

She also asked politicians to stop interfering with policing matters, saying policing is neither NPP nor NDC. Madam Daniels also took on officers who refused to work in remote areas or complained when they are transferred there.

She stated that officers must understand that the job they signed onto can take them anywhere and not just to places of their choice or preference.