The action by a police officer seen in a viral video dragging a suspect on the ground with a belt tied around his neck in the full glare of the public at Kumawu Dadease to be precise in Sekyere Kumawu District, Ashanti Region is an eyesore and must strongly be condemn.
Generally, in many other jurisdictions, Police Officers are not allowed to use excessive force in making any arrest, which is universal and protected by the 1992 constitution of the republic of Ghana, but rather just a minimum amount of force is allowed by the Police to use as a means of self defence to send the suspect to police custody.
There are numerous horrible incidents of this nature, that have occurred in time immemorial and till date, nothing has been done seriously about them. Persons who encounter such cruel treatments from some police officers are mostly left to their faith, because they do not know the appropriate department to go, and even the few who boldly report the case to the police, end up not following the case anymore due to the wriggling attitude by police officers in charge of the case.
The next action that comes to attention, is a fabricated statement or report from the Public Affair Department of Ghana Police Service release into the public domain to defend their own or to put the public into anticipation of investigation which end up with no result. Shockly, this reports in many shape or form mostly, do not give the true reflection of what might have been seen in the viral video. This action rise a lot of doubts on the mind of many Ghanaians and till date, one continue to wonder why the Police Service lie in many of their reports put in the public domain, if not for being authority figure or not accountable to any independent body.
It is agreeably to say Police lie on phenomenon of “Noble Cause Corruption” to justify an action, that they believe keep communities or the country safe, but it also important to state that such principle apply to it fulness of acceptance when the case is something that can affect the peace and the stability of the communities or the country.
As a country, for how long must we wait for such unfortunate treatments by some police officers against ordinary civilians continue without proper investigation done to ascertain who is guilty to allow the law to take it cause. Even though, the Police Professional Standard Bureau ( PPSB), has be established to
Investigate complaints from the public against Police Officers on instances of malfeasance and any other act of omission, but there have been a lot of doubt of biasness to favour their own in the mind of the public on the outcome of the Bureau’s investigations due to the representation of same police officers who constitute the the PPSB.
In view of this, it is imperative for parliament to put in a bill to establish an Independent Police Complaint Commission to investigate all unfortunate issues that break out between Police Officers and civilians and ensure disciplinary actions against the culprits, just as is done in South Africa, United Kingdom ( UK), Australia and many other countries
Sign
Anthony Acquaye ( MA in Security KAIPTC. )
Security Policy Expert, at Center for Security Dialogue and Peace Advocacy
