Private Security Companies Using Police Uniforms Warned

The police administration has warned private security firms wearing uniforms similar to that of the police uniforms to desist from such practice. A press release issued and signed by the Director/General of Public Affairs, Rev David Nenyi Ampah-Bennin (DCOP), said it has come to the notice of the police that some private security companies use uniforms similar to that of the Ghana Police Service, and the practice contravenes Regulation 12 [1] of the Police Service [Private Security Organizations] Regulations, 1992 [L I 1571], which stipulates that: �No employee of an organization licensed under regulation shall wear, carry or bear any uniform, cap, badge, accoutrements or other identification mark unless the uniform, cap, badge, accoutrements or other identification mark has been approved for use by the Inspector-General of Police in writing.� Section [2] of the same regulation adds that the Inspector-General of Police may not approve any such article for use if in his opinion it resembles that which is used by the Police Service, the Prisons Service or the Ghana Armed Forces. The situation has security ramifications, as it poses some challenges to maintenance of law and order in the country. It has come to light that some personnel of some private security companies which use these uniforms misappropriate powers reserved for the police. Furthermore, some of these private security officers abuse their police-look-alike identity and may commit all sorts of crime in the name of the police. Consequently, the police administration wishes to entreat all private security companies which use or have the intention to use uniforms close to that of the Ghana Police Service to desist, as those who flout this directive would be made to face the law.