By: Kingsley Attitsogbui| HO
The Director-General of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for the Ghana Police, Commissioner of Police (COP) Mr. Iddi Lansah Seidu, has announced that the Ghana Police Service, with support from other sister security services, has established the Police Election Security Secretariat to oversee election security-related matters.
According to the Director-General of ICT, the establishment of the Secretariat will aid in the effective planning and execution of all election-related security matters in the country.
“Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, at this stage, we would like to assure members of the general public that the police service, with the support of sister security services, is putting up adequate measures to provide a secured environment for the general Parliamentary and Presidential elections to take place without any security breaches. It is worth noting that, for the first time, the police have established the Election Security Secretariat to oversee election security-related matters,” he said.
The COP, as the Reviewing Officer, made this statement during the passing-out parade of 29 graduates and 159 general recruits at the Volta Regional Police Training School in Ho on Wednesday, February 21, 2024.
He informed that cyber-related crimes and the operations of criminals continue to put a huge demand on the police to devise new ways, especially in combating the activities of such miscreants in society.
To this end, he stated that the police administration, under the leadership of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, has developed a new training module that blends theory with field practical’s and simulation exercises.
By this training regime, he noted equal emphasis is placed on field training, with practical attachments to gain hands-on experience under the close supervision of Senior Officers.
This, he indicated, is a departure from the past where emphasis was placed on recruits’ knowledge of the laws they were expected to enforce when they passed out.
He further mentioned that the focus is now also on field training activities such as riding, driving, swimming, crowd control, and incident and disaster management, among others.
He stated that so far, almost 7000 new police personnel have benefited from the new training module, urging the newly trained police officers to live up to the expectations of the public, by upholding the public trust, applying security laws fairly in all matters, especially for this year, being an election year, with utmost respect for citizens’ human rights.
In all, a total of 188 police personnel passed out after their successful training, and awards were presented to deserving recruits who distinguished themselves during the training.