Effia Tenge exits police service
The Director in charge of Public Affairs of the Volta Regional Police Command, Superintendent of Police Effia Tenge, has exited from the Ghana Police Service after 18 years of service.
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Her exit took effect on April 1, 2023.
Mrs Tenge was recruited into the Ghana Police Service as a public affairs officer in 2005, stationed at the Media Monitoring Centre of the Police Public Affairs Directorate, National Headquarters.
She became popular after she made her professional debut in 2014 when she was made the Public Affairs Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, and served in that capacity until she was appointed the Director, Public Affairs, Volta Regional Police Command.
Initiatives
Over the years, she rose through the ranks and was instrumental in implementing initiatives to advance policing in Ghana, including introducing the Police Regional News Magazine, Police Diary, for regular information flow on law enforcement activities that promote police professionalism, respect for human rights, transparency in police operations and accountability to the public.
When asked about her motivation for such an innovation, Mrs Tenge said: “Undoubtedly, the police’s ability to effectively combat crime in a growing environment of sophisticated and complex crimes largely depends on strong public support through reliable, credible, and timely crime reporting”.
In 2019, amid widespread panic and kidnap scare among the expatriate community in Ghana, Mrs Tenge devised and implemented initiatives to reduce growing tension and restore public confidence in Ghana’s security.
The initiatives included the activation of expatriate dialogue sessions aimed at reaching and sharing with embassies and high commissions in Ghana timely security information on the safety of foreign nationals and emerging crimes.
She also produced and rolled out a comprehensive sensitisation programme through staged drama by police officers in selected girls’ senior high schools and basic schools in Accra to educate students on the prevention of kidnapping.
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Partnerships
Mrs Tenge also facilitated partnerships with the King James Foundation and the Ghana Medical Missions (USA) to offer health screening to police officers and donate medical supplies to the police hospital, while female police officers benefited from empowerment on health issues such as cervical cancer, depression, breast cancer and reproductive and maternal health.
A collaboration with the Police Hospital and the Ghana Blood Bank helped the hospital to stockpile its blood bank, while seminars on stress management, mental health, suicide prevention and lifestyle diseases were periodically held for police officers to ensure officers' vitality.
In 2020, Mrs Tenge organised a training session, in collaboration with the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, to provide public health safety tips to police officers as they embarked on operational duties to enforce restrictions during lockdown following the COVID-19 outbreak.
Mrs Tenge initiated the ‘City Police’ to identify and celebrate hardworking personnel to motivate them and encourage others to give their best in the discharge of their duties.
In the Volta Region, she rolled out a campaign, in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service and the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit, to build and empower 5,900 students in junior and senior high schools to recognise early sexual advances and to speak out.
She was a member of the Public Affairs and Community Engagement (PACE) team that drafted an Internal and External Communication Strategy for the National Border Security Strategy following an Integrated Border Management (IBM) agenda under the Ghana-US coordinated Security Governance Initiative (SGI).
To Mrs Tenge, the success of any law enforcement agency largely depends on its strategic partnerships with the communities they serve, through constant engagement and mutual understanding.
She wished the Ghana Police Service well and hoped to see it realise it's vision of becoming a world-class service capable of delivering a planned, democratic, protective and peaceful service in line with international best practice.