Police Administration hints of insurance fund for personnel who die in line of duty

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr David Asante-Apeatu, says it is the intention of the current Police Administration to establish an insurance fund for police personnel who die in the line of duty.

That, he said, would alleviate some of the pain and frustrations families “go through in the event of such unfortunate incidents and also give hope to police personnel, especially those in the frontline that their welfare is of paramount importance to the administration.”

Speaking during the maiden visit of the Interior Minister, Mr Ambrose Dery, to the Police Headquarters in Accra last Wednesday, the IGP said the recent killings of frontline officers in the line of duty confirmed the hazardous nature of the police profession.

He said the role of the police in the current democratic dispensation was evolving, a situation that required innovative approaches of managing crime and maintaining law and order.

Accordingly, the IGP said the Police Service was embarking on a major transformation in line with its vision to be a world-class police service capable of delivering planned, democratic, protective and peaceful services up to the standards of international best practices.

Transformation agenda

The IGP said the transformation agenda was also against the backdrop of the government’s 13 strategic objectives and in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 16 which placed peace, justice and effective accountable and inclusive institution at the core of sustainable development.

“With these two sources as points of reference, the Ghana Police Service has unveiled five key themes to create a synergy that would facilitate the process involving the welfare of officers on the ground, Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau (PIPS), Community Policing, Criminal Investigations Department (CID) with information Technology as the main driver,” he said.

Officers promotion

Mr Asante-Apeatu said one big challenge that should be resolved as quickly as possible to inject some fresh energy into the operations of the service was the stagnation of the promotion of senior police officers.

He stated that some senior police officers had spent almost seven years on their current rank, yet their professionalism was unquestionable, so he assured all such officers that with the support of the minister, delayed promotions would be dealt with immediately the Police Council was inaugurated.

Police-Population ratio

He said based on United Nations police-population ratio of 1:500, the current police strength of 34,000 should have been 56,000.

The situation, he said, indicated that there was a deficit of 22,000 in the human resource capacity of the Ghana Police Service, which put more pressure on the service in meeting daily challenges.

For his part, Mr Dery called on all to see security as a national commitment devoid of partisan politics.

He said currently the security agencies were facing challenging times, as the death of security actors kept occurring in the line of duty or from friendly fire.

The minister urged the personnel not to relent in their efforts to maintain law and order but to commit themselves to their work in order to achieve set goals, as the President was committed to promoting peace in the country.