Time to check police brutality
The whole nation woke up to worrying news from the Central Region recently that the residents of Ntsin had attacked the Bakaano police station twice within four days.
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This was said to be in response to swoops conducted by the regional command that led to the death of a community member who was alleged to have died in the hands of the police.
While the police claimed the deceased fell sick while in custody and died when being rushed to the hospital, the people on the other hand thought otherwise.
The people from Ntsin believed the police used excessive force in dealing with the man, and they could not accept that the police, who were to protect the people from criminals and murderers, tended to be the perpetrators of the same crimes.
Just recently, during the ‘Let My Vote Count’ protest in Accra to call on the Electoral Commission (EC) for a new voters register, the police came under heavy criticism for using excessive force in dealing with the demonst
The acting Inspector General of Police, Commissioner of Police John Kudalor, then in charge of Operations, in reaction to the criticism, said the police did not regret their actions.
He said, “I don’t feel sorry. The boys did well and that was what they were supposed to do,” clearly supporting and defending the police actions.
This police brutality led to one of the demonstrators losing an eye, yet the police saw nothing wrong with it and as usual defended their brutal actions.
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Admittedly, some suspects can be very difficult to handle and might need some form of force to subdue them; the fact remains that the police have always been found wanting when it comes to the appropriate use of force.
In September 2013, in the same Central Region, two police officers, Lance Corporals Francis Appiah and Opoku Tetteh, then stationed at Gomoa Pomadze, were gunned down by their own colleagues who were responding to a distress call over an armed robbery incident.
The two were mistaken for armed robbers and were thought to be running away from the armed robbery scene, when in actual fact, one was conveying his injured colleague to the hospital.
Because they failed to heed to the stop signal from their colleagues, they were wasted just like that. The police could have shot the car tyres to immobilise it and get the occupants arrested if really they were armed robbers.
Innocent lives have been lost at the hands of the police under the guise of fighting armed robbers without regard to simple rules and regulations.
Fumesua case
In July 2013, the police shot and killed a suspected armed robber believed to have been part of a gang that robbed the Fumesua branch of the Juaben Rural Bank in broad daylight.
According to the police accounts of the event, the deceased, who was hiding in an uncompleted building, allegedly opened fire when he saw the police coming and in self-defence, the police also returned fire leading to his death.
Ironically, the police found only a pellet on him. No gun. Not even a knife. As to whether a pellet can be fired without a gun, the experts must tell Ghanaians.
The question on everyone’s mind was “with what did he shoot at the police?”
No gun or weapon found and not even a cartridge was found to at least give credence to the police story.
This was a clear case of abuse of power, and since the deceased was unnamed and had no one to fight for him, the case died a natural death.
The police service was hailed for reducing the population of criminals in the country by one. That man could have been any of us.
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Police training
Sometimes, the manner in which the police react to incidents makes one question the quality of training being given to them.
Gradually, the public is losing trust and confidence in the police and this is a bad signal. Ghana cannot afford to slip into a lawless country where the police cannot be trusted. Mistrust in the police could culminate in citizens forming vigilantes, a situation that could gradually descend into disorder.
Though I condemn the action of the people of Ntsin on the Bakaano police station, it should also be a wake-up call for the police to revise their rules of engagement and know when to use the so-called excessive force.