Police has set up a Media Monitoring Centre

Story: Mary Mensah
The Ghana Police Service has set up a  Media Monitoring Center to enable the service to come out with appropriate policies, strategies and decisions to serve the public better before and during the elections
This has become necessary because according to the police media monitoring  will afford them  the opportunity to know all the happenings in the election which may not come by traditional sources of information.
Opening a five-day training programme to upgrade the skills of Media Monitoring Personnel drawn from the Public Affairs Unit of the Ghana Police Service in Accra today, Commissioner of Police (COP) in Charge of Administration , Mrs Rose Bio Atinga said the administration appreciates the crucial role information plays in the world today.
She said the Media Monitoring Unit had also been fitted with the state-of-the-art equipment to ensure effective monitoring of the media for a better service.
COP Atinga said the new centre and the training are also some of the measures the police are instituting to ensure a peaceful elections come December as
She said no organisation or institution especially a security one like the police can ignore this vital element and succeed.
She said the media had been virtually taunted as the fourth estate of the realm due to the crucial role they play in democratic states by holding public institutions and servants accountable to the public by serving as the watch-dog for the people.
COP Atinga said this was also a further assurance to the public that the police are leaving no stone unturned in their bid to secure the integrity of the 2012 election and such is the commitment of the police to ensuring a successful elections and all stakeholders are entreated to play their parts.
She urged the participants to take advantage of the opportunity and imbibe with zeal whatever knowledge would be imparted unto them and pass it on to their colleagues.
On his part, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr Frank Kwofie, Director of CID Operations said for every institution to make progress in whatever it has chosen to do it was incumbent upon it to keep abreast of time.
He said from time to time there was the need for revision of methods of operation, upgrading of knowledge and skills and overhauling of equipment and the Police Administration acknowledges this fact and continues to put measures in place regularly to enable the service to be of use to the public  that they serve.
He said the police administration considers training and retraining as an essential tool in the provision of better services and attainment of their goals as contained in the strategic National Policing Plan.
ACP Kwofie said the course was therefore in line with the general objectives of the police administration to bring the Ghana Police Service to the levels of international best practices.