THE exceptional bravery displayed by a police corporal in Kumasi who repelled an attack by six gunmen, killing one in the process, is commendable. In the process of protecting the cold store and its workers, the policeman sustained injuries in one hand.
Time and again, some personnel of the Ghana Police Service have demonstrated commitment to their job of maintaining law and order even at the peril of their lives. Some others, and it is believed that they must be in the minority, have dragged the image of the police in the mud by getting involved in criminal activities such as armed robbery, arms trafficking, and extortion of money from motorists and complainants.
Majority of our police personnel have, by their conduct, protected the integrity of the Ghana Police Service while a few bad ones create image problems for it. Thus law-abiding Ghanaians think the police cannot be relied upon to safeguard law and order and protect them against criminals.
In some cases, police response time to distress calls is so slow that they are unable to apprehend criminals, compelling some people to conclude that the police had limited response.
Despite the negative perception members of the public have of the police, they feel that the police are needed to maintain law and order and so support them. A healthy police-public relations is key in reducing crime, disorder and fear of crime to create the right environment for all daily activities.
Corporate bodies and philanthropists such as Alhaji Asuma Banda have in their small ways assisted the police to deliver on their mandate of making it unattractive for people to commit crime.
But individuals and corporate bodies cannot solve the problems which are legion; the Ghana Police Service is a state institution and the State must fund it to all its problems including the lack of adequate residential accommodation and poor logistics.
Even paper to work with at some charge offices is non-existent, let alone vehicles to go on patrols or communication gadgets to put the personnel a step ahead of the criminals who have been very sophisticated. It is pathetic that in the Kumasi robbery case, the robber absconded in a Daewoo Tico vehicle.
In this computer age, even police stations in Accra are not networked so that they can easily share information in combating crime.
The DAILY GRAPHIC is aware that all sectors of the economy require more resources to achieve their targets but when the ends are competing for scarce resource, the country has to set priorities.
The country has enjoyed stability, peace and tranquillity over the last 14 years or so, but the relative peace can only be sustained through constant vigilance and a deliberate policy to nip the activities of the criminals in the bud.
Respect for rule of law is a sine qua non for the development of any country. Investor confidence in Ghana cannot be sustained if the investors have no trust in our legal framework to the extent that those who are aggrieved are not motivated to seek redress through laid-down procedures but by arbitrariness or "self-help". The phenomenon of mob justice is a wake-up call to all of us to protect the justice system because any apparent loss of trust in the police to deal with the spate of criminal activities in the country can spell doom for the people, particularly the vulnerable in the society.
Whatever the public perception of the police, some of them are still demonstrating attitudes of professionalism which must be commended. It must be clear to all of us by now that the lack of the reward and punishment system does not provide enough motivation for our public officers to work hard.
The DAILY GRAPHIC, therefore, calls on the government to institutionalise the "naming and shaming' process to deter the lazy and motivate patriotic citizens. That opportunity offers itself now for the Police Administration to honour Corporal Ebenezer Obeng for standing up against the robbers at the peril of his life. Bravo, Corporal Obeng.
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