It is uncommon for the Ghana Police Service and for that matter the security agencies to make public the number of personnel who die in line of duty in a particular year in the country.
That data has never been shared with the public except those that are reported by the media occasionally.
Perhaps, the media have not probed deep enough or do not find it necessary to get such information to share with the public.
The Ghanaian Times is making reference to this under reported issue today on the back of the announcement by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante-Apeatu that the service is instituting a Gh¢50,000 insurance cover for every police officer.
According to the police boss, the amount would go to three children of the deceased officer to cater for their education from nursery to tertiary.
He explained that if an officer dies accidentally or naturally, the family would receive Gh¢25,000 and in case an officer suffered permanent disability, that officer would be entitled to Gh¢25,000 as well.
This is a very pragmatic and forward looking policy that the police service must be commended for, although it is coming a little too late.
It is our view that this policy should have been established long before now as many policemen have lost their lives while serving the nation.
We recall many policemen, particularly dispatch riders who died through accidents, personnel who died while on operation and some deliberately attacked and killed by bad people.
Our recollection of how these personnel and their families are supported in times of death is for the police to donate an amount of money towards the funeral of deceased police officer.
With the institution of the insurance policy, we doubt whether the police service would continue to donate cash to support those who die in action.
Our contention is that the Police Service must continue to support families of deceased police officers through a properly structured fund that must be instituted solely by the state to support the Service.
The role of the police is changing from ensuring peace, law and order to combating crime as well as fighting sophisticated gun welding criminals.
The Police officer faces more risk today than ever before, so the state must, apart from the insurance policy, create a fund that would be used to compensate the family in the event that the police officer dies in the line of duty.
If the nation wants the security personnel to give of their best and continue to sacrifice to protect us, then we must begin to appreciate them better.
We commend the police service for the insurance policy and hope that the state would add on to get them to continue to do what they know how to do best.
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