CHIEFS URGED TO FIND SOLUTIONS TO DISPUTES (Page 29)

24/07/08
Story: Mary Mensah & Christiana Asantewah Wiafe
THE Police Administration has appealed to the National House of Chiefs to find a permanent solution to the numerous chieftaincy and land disputes.
The Director-General in charge of Human Resource Development at the Ghana Police Service, Commissioner of Police (COP) Mrs Joana Osei Opoku, who made the appeal, noted that although the police had the capacity to deal with such negative developments, the disputes had the tendency to consume a large chunk of the service's meagre resources.
Mrs Opoku was speaking at the passing out of the third batch of trainees who have successfully completed their six- month basic police training at the National Police Training School in Accra last Tuesday.
The 80 recruits were made up of 65 males and 15 females.
Mrs Opoku also appealed to the public to co-operate with the police to eliminate crime from the society, emphasising that achieving public safety was a corporate responsibility.
She told the recruits that their success as full-fledged police officers would depend largely on the application of the skills and knowledge gained, in addition to civility and comportment towards the public.
The director-general also cautioned the recruits against acts of indiscipline that would drag the name of the service into disrepute and warned that the Police Administration would not countenance misconduct by any member of the service.
Mrs Opoku said the service was often pushed into the pool of public criticisms, which often led to public mistrust, and said a singular act could lead the public to question the integrity of the service.
She, therefore, advised the recruits to be circumspect and always work within the parameters of the Police Code of Ethics.
She reminded the recruits that they were passing out at a crucial period when Ghanaians were about to hold presidential and parliamentary elections, adding, "Circumspection, vision, loyalty and commitment on the part of police officers are major professional requirements to ensure peaceful elections.”
Mrs Opoku assured all Ghanaians and the international community that the needed mechanisms and strategies had been mapped out to achieve peaceful elections.
The Overall Best Recruit award went to General Recruit Kwabena Agbedanu.