FIVE-DAY COURSE FOR POLICE PHOTOGRAPHERS ENDS

16/01/08
Story: Mary Mensah

A five-day training course for cameramen and crime scene management teams has ended in Accra with a call on them to be extra alert during the Ghana 2008 tournament.
The 30 CID personnel including five Senior Police Officers (SPO’s) were drawn from the regions and were taken through evidence gathering at crime scenes, practical introduction to equipment and techniques and special effects in camera photography, among others.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong, said the importance of training to an institution like the police service could not be overemphasised and training for special events like the tournament was very crucial.
He said the service was commended after the Ghana at 50 celebrations and the African Union conference and noted that this was the result of prior special training received by the police.
Mr Acheampong stated that football management, administration or the act of spectating at football matches was an entirely different thing.
He said it was very important to tune the mind of the police, beginning with the management of crowds, which would be different at each of the four designated areas.
He said Ghanaian spectators would be joined by others from Africa and other parts of the world with divergence of cultural values and there was the need to be “extra alert and open your ears and eyes in order to avert trouble”.
The IGP said the Rapid Response Unit, General Deployment Force and the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) had all been trained and were ready for the task ahead.
The Director of Operations of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Chief Superintendent Simon Afeku, said the course was practical oriented using video demonstrations of international and local crime scenes at football matches and the subsequent management of such scenes.
He said the participants would be deployed to the four tournament venues to help to avert crimes and added that the CID was in a good position to ensure professionalism at Ghana 2008 tournament.