IGP Calls For Professionalism; Cooperation In The National Interest

Mr David Asante-Apeatu, the Inspector General of Police, Thursday, called for calm following the tension arising from Wednesday’s clashes between some Police and military officers in Tamale.

He said Military-Police cooperation engendered better national security, citing operations Vanguard and Calm Life as positive examples.

  Addressing the opening ceremony of the Cadet Officers’ Course 48, at the Police Academy, in Accra, the IGP, however, warned that officers who deliberately discharged their duties to connote criminality would be subjected to the full rigours of the internal disciplinary processes.

   He, therefore, charged them to be professional and conduct themselves responsibly at all times in the line of duty and beyond.

   Additionally, the IGP stated that the subject of avoiding professional errors would be enhanced in the curricular of Police Training so that officers would continue to learn from mistakes, as no institution was infallible.

Police officers within the Tamale Metropolis in the Northern Region were reportedly attacked by some soldiers after a soldier was taken to court and was asked to be remanded after proceedings.

The soldier allegedly escaped while he was being taken into custody.

The soldier reportedly fled towards his colleagues who were undertaking an operation in town.

The soldier was chased by the police officers who managed to capture him, but his colleagues fended them off and launched a brutal assault on the police officers.

The soldiers, subsequently, attacked any other police officer they came across in the Metropolis.

The Training Programme is to increase the numbers at the Tactical Command level to improve upon the mentoring, coaching and supervision of officers.

The IGP stated that from the next recruit in-take, a fully developed mentoring and coaching programme would be infused in a newly developed probation-training curriculum.

This, he explained, was geared to re-engineer field training as an anchor for baseline development in the Service.

He said crime in the past decades had increased in sophistication with an attendant complexity in modus operandi.

 Consequently, he said, it had increased the challenges of all Police systems the world over, to harness their strengths, resources and training to adequately measure up to the growing challenges.

On the composition of participants of the Course, the IGP said: “The Police Administration supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 5, which highlights the need for Gender Equality; Having 27 ladies in Course 48 is encouraging and brings the hope for better numbers moving forward.

He urged the officers to exhibit the highest form of discipline to derive the optimum benefit from the course and as well open their minds, pay attention to the resource persons and be receptive to new ideas.