IGP CAUTIONS PAULICH AGAINST FALSE ALARMS

23/05/2010
Story: Mary Mensah
THE Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Quaye, has cautioned the public against raising false fire alarms and bomb threats.
He indicated that some unscrupulous people were taking advantage of the increasing spate of fire outbreaks in the country to create panic and anxiety in the minds of people by raising false alarms.
Speaking at the annual WASSA celebration of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in Accra, the IGP noted that those threats seemed be to spreading across the country, adding that they were a matter of grave concern which demanded professional solutions.
Mr Quaye, therefore, called on detectives to elicit information that would identify those faceless and unscrupulous individuals whose stock-in-trade was the dissemination of those misleading threats.
He said the Ghana Police Service, and for that matter the CID, had a duty to stop those ill-intended alarmists before permanent damage was inflicted on the security image of the country.
He observed that the corporate image of the police had sunk low and noted that it required a Herculean task and effort to redeem it.
The IGP said 2010 was a year of image redemption for the police and went on to state that the police had focused on activities that would do away with all negative perceptions about the service, whether real or imagined.
He advised the personnel to turn around in the manner in which they treated suspects and accused persons in custody and also eschew corrupt practices and the tendency to accept money to influence the bail of suspects in custody.
He said personnel who disregarded those cautions and got themselves entangled with corrupt practices would not be treated with kids’ gloves, neither would they be shielded by the administration.
Mr Quaye said two current major interventions embarked upon by the police in the provision of state-of-the art equipment for the police were aimed at turning the fortunes of the CID around immensely.
He explained that the establishment of a DNA laboratory and an automated fingerprint identification system were two conspicuous components that could boost scientific investigations and the operational effectiveness of the CID.
For his part, the Director-General of the CID, Mr Frank Adu-Poku, said statistics from the court unit indicated that 518 cases were prosecuted, with 170 convictions, while 322 cases were still undergoing prosecution.
He announced that the CID Headquarters was receiving a facelift, with the beautification of the compound and plans to renovate the building.
“As detectives, we must avoid acts, omissions or commissions that will drag the image of the Police Service in the mud. We must respect the rights of suspects and prisoners and be very civil to the public whose support and co-operation have brought us far,” he stated.