POLICE PERSONNEL WARNED AGAINST UNLAWFUL DETENTION (PAGE 42, JUNE 7, 2010)

THE Director-General in charge of Operations of the Ghana Police Service, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) John Kudalor, has warned personnel of the police service against unlawfully detaining suspects.
He said with the new cell policy of the service, personnel who would be found culpable to have acted at variance with the rules of the service, with respect to the detention of suspects, would be held responsible for their actions.
“With the new cell policy, we will ensure that specific numbers of suspects are kept in cells at some particular times. This is because we want to ensure that suspects are treated humanely and with decency because they are also human beings. In instances where the suspects are more than necessary, we could process them before court for them to be remanded in prison,” he said.
DCOP Kudalor gave the advice when he addressed a durbar of senior officers and personnel of the service at the Upper West Regional Police Headquarters in Wa.
He said policing was a calling which needed sacrifice and service, and therefore, advised personnel of the service to work to win the confidence of the populace.
The director-general deplored the uninspiring manner in which some police personnel conducted themselves and urged such personnel to turn over a new leaf, stressing that discipline must be the hallmark of every police officer.
Touching on transfers under the current police administration, DCOP Kudalor explained that the administration was streamlining the processes to ensure that all those who deserved to be transferred were asked to do so when the need arose.
He expressed worry about the situation where some regions or police stations had more than enough officers while others lacked personnel, and said those anomalies would be rectified.
DCOP Kudalor said the Police Administration wanted to be as transparent and humane as possible in satisfying all personnel with respect to transfers in the service.
The director-general further called for closer collaboration between the media and the police as it went about its work, saying, “We have to work with the media to our advantage”.
He said as part of measures to always get the right and factual information across to the public, the administration had directed the various commanders and its public affairs officers to perform such functions, adding, “The police is ready to give the right information to the media.”
The new Regional Police Commander, DCOP Roy Amuni, said he would operate an open-door policy.
He also promised to work closely with the media.