Police, soldiers in sheep clothes
The spate at which some police, military and even private security personnel are becoming perpetrators of crime in the country is alarming.
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The police and the military are expected to uphold the law in defending life and property, detecting crime and apprehending offenders. Yet, some villainous personnel are doing the direct opposite of their core functions.
Interestingly, if media reports are anything to go by, the police appear to be the worst offenders though they are supposed to be the first line of defence in crime prevention. Indeed, when military personnel engage in robbery or other criminal offences, it is the police who we rely upon to arrest and prepare them for court.
Recent cases
For instance, recently, the Kwabenya Police in Accra apprehended two soldiers for robbery. Lance Corporal Michael Gwura Forkes, 25, and Lance Corporal Dickson Ruben, 26, claimed to be personnel of the Tema Eastern Naval Command.
They were said to have forcibly collected GH¢2,508, 2,200 Euros, mobile phones and some personal belongings from their victims.
Just a week ago, a police officer stationed at Gomoa Nyanyano in the Central Region was arrested for allegedly stealing electric cables.
Inspector Emmanuel Ametepey and an accomplice, who was said to be on the run, were said to have stolen nine bundles of the electric cables being used for a rural electrification project at Nankese, a village near Agona Odoben in the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District.
In a similar case, a policeman and two others were recently sentenced to a total of 90 years' imprisonment with hard labour by an Accra Circuit Court for robbing two licensed arms and ammunition dealers in Accra.
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The robbers, in separate operations in 2009, attacked the arms dealers, who were also businessmen and robbed them of large quantities of ammunition and cash.
The convicts - Constable Peter Nogma of the Ghana Police Service, Paul Atiase Agbongbor, a businessman and Pascal Fella, a computer analyst, were charged with conspiracy to rob and robbery.
Besides, the Criminal and Investigations Department of the Police Service arrested one of their own for engaging in armed robbery.
Lance Corporal Benjamin Tekutey of the Kakito Police Station under the Ashaiman Division is alleged to have managed to dress his friend in a police uniform on August 4 at 10 p.m. and both attacked a Chinese, Xiangmen and his two friends at gunpoint around the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange.
Cop Tekutey and his accomplice managed to rob the victims of their Nissan pickup vehicle with registration number CD 2665 X, GH¢500 and two mobile phones.
In another case last March, two police officers, Lance Corporal Joseph Clottey of the Police Striking Force and Lance Corporal Richard Osei Adjei of the Greater Accra Regional Criminal Investigations Department, were arrested after they had confessed to extorting money from a businessman.
They subjected their victim to harrowing torture including the use of an electric shock device and anti-riot pepper spray before abandoning him at a drinking spot close to the Police Headquarters in Accra.
The victim claimed that Clottey and Adjei, together with an accomplice, succeeded in relieving him of $55,000.
Then in July, the Wa Circuit Court Judge, His Honour Bright Akwantey, sentenced one of three police officers who were accused of abducting and defiling a 14- year-old primary six pupil to nine years in prison with hard labour.
The prosecutor, DSP Owusu Bempah, told the court that the accused persons abducted the victim and kept her for eight days during which they repeatedly defiled her.
General Constable Appiah Donald and two colleagues, General Constable George Tanoe and Corporal Joseph Kwakoh, were reported to have "camped" their victim for days and subjected her to bouts of unprotected sex.
These cases highlighted the preferred modus operandi of these errant security personnel. The police accuse their victim of a fictitious crime, then use their power to extort cash and valuables from him or her.
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Last February, the Accra Regional Police Command arrested four police personal of the National SWAT Unit of the Ghana Police Service for allegedly extorting money from two women.
Sergeant Daniel Asiedu, Sergeant Adam Ibrahim, Constable Bright .K. Owusu and Constable Juliet Esi Akombo arrested two women whom they claimed were caught engaging in lesbianism in a car, took naked photos of them and threatened to disseminate same on the Internet if their traumatised victims did not pay up.
The cops made GH¢170 from this operation.
Police administration on crime
A security expert who spoke to The Mirror on condition of anonymity, expressed concern about the upsurge of cases in which state security personnel have been engaged in violent crimes such as robbery.
He explained that these personnel have unique training to exercise force on behalf of the state.
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"In a democracy such as Ghana, the state has a monopoly over lawful violence, and the police and military are trained to carry out lawful violence on our behalf," he explained.
Unfortunately, he said such personnel can take advantage of their training and exclusive access to lethal weapons and detention cells to victimise the public.
He, however, opined that the upsurge of cases could be due to many factors.
He said one factor could be that the police was cracking down hard on unprofessional conduct, and are therefore reporting to the media such cases as they emerge. It could also be that the issue had become part of the public agenda, causing the media to focus on it.
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“This could be more so if the public is also becoming bold to report such incidents. And it could also be that security personnel are reacting to the economic conditions," he further explained.
He expressed concern that these cases reduce public confidence in the police.
“How do you know if you are being arrested for a genuine offence or a fictitious one just to be extorted?" he asked.
In an interview with The Mirror to explain the upsurge of crime among his comrades, the Police Relations Officer of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Cephas Arthur, said it was very distressing to read in the media that a policeman or woman had engaged in criminal offences when they should rather be gatekeepers.
"In every organisation, there are bad and good lots and the police service is not no exception. The few bad lots are those causing such mortifying acts".
According to DSP Arthur, currently all those who were arrested for various criminal offences and were found liable by a Service Adjudicating Committee had undergone service enquiries and interdicted, others have had their ranks reduced or dismissed, while some had been convicted by the law courts for the offences they committed.
DSP Arthur explained that many media reports of police unprofessionalism have come from the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau (PIPS) which deals with cases of police misconduct, he added that
"Just like we deal ruthlessly with civilians and other security personnel who fall foul to the law, so it is that we do to our own folks who try to tarnish the image of the Ghana Police Service,” he stated.
He said the police administration always endeavoured to give the public and the media information on police personnel who had been arrested for offences such as robbery, rape, defilement, extortion among others to send signals to the entire public that no one was above the law.
However, it remained to be seen if the capacity of the PIPS to function effectively would be enhanced.
A report by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), noted that the standards bureau was " undermined, under-resourced or underpowered."
The report also called for an empowered and neutral civilian complaints body for the police service.