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| The Plight Of The Police Officer |
1/8/2007 |
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By Francis Asamoah Tuffour
Monday, 08 January 2007
THE acute shortage of accommodation for the police was made evident on Friday when out of the four police stations and barracks visited by the Minister of the Interior in the Central Region, only one of them was found to be owned by the state.
The other three, like most police stations in the country are all rented premises.
So acute is the problem that policemen working in many stations sleep on verandas and in open spaces, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of the Interior, was told when he visited the Kasoa, Bawjiase, Mankrong junction and the Agona Swedru police stations
At Kasoa, the District Commander, Deputy Superintendent Charles Adalong, said the major problem facing the personnel was accommodation.
He said that most of the personnel, who had been transferred from Accra had to commute to Kasoa daily. Some of them told the Times that they sleep on the balcony of the station.
At Bawjiase the Minister was informed that the Ewutu-Efutu-Senya-District Assembly has offered an old cocoa shed to the Bawjiase Police to be used as a police station and residence.
At Agona Swedru, the Minister was conducted round an abandoned police station project that had been under construction over 30 years, ago during the Acheampong regime.
The Divisional Commander Chief Superintendent Nat Acquah, said inspectors’ bungalows are used as offices while some of the junior officers sleep in the buildings in the bush.
Mr. Kan-Dapaah assured the police that the government is doing everything possible to address their accommodation problems, adding that government is also sourcing money from foreign private investors to undertake a housing project for the police.
He said that the police had performed creditably in maintaining peace, law and order, especially at reducing violent crime.
At a recent Police Council meeting, a decision was taken on the need for all police cells, stations and barracks to be renovated.
The Minister said the meeting also deliberated on the need for permanent police stations to be built rather than renting private premises most of which are not suitable for use as police stations.
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