Community policing to scale up nationwide

At least 120 police personnel across the country are expected to be trained in Community Policing concept by the end of the year, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Laurencia Wilhelmina Akorli, the Director of the Community Policing Unit (CPU) has stated.

She said the concept would help improve police-public-partnership and promote proactive policing to help in the prevention of crimes in the communities.

ACP Akorli disclosed this at the opening ceremony of a five-day training workshop for 40 district police commanders, Chief Inspectors, Inspectors, and Community Police Coordinators, including five females in Accra yesterday.

The programme is under the auspices of the CPU of the Ghana Police Service with support from German Development Cooperation (GIZ).

ACP Akorli stated that the training was a pilot project and began from Accra and Tema regions and would be replicated in other regions.

She said community policing was the way to achieve proactive policing in the country.

“During community engagement, the police met with the opinion leaders, peer groups to sit in consultation to address challenges of the communities and seek ways to address them,” she added.

She assured of the Police Service continuous efforts through motorcycle patrol concept and visibility, among others to ensure that crimes were reduced in the communities.

The director said currently at the police training schools recruits were being trained on community policing concept to meet international standard, stressing that it was  a proactive way to reduce crimes,

She said security was a shared responsibility and called on the public to effectively partner the police to ensure the communities were safe.

The Technical Advisor and Community Policing and Accountability Officer of GIZ, Mr Gideon Neequaye,said GIZ in partnership with the Police Service was focusing in three areas of community policing, police accountability and training.

He commended the Police Service for their continuous support in ensuing peace and stability in the country, and stressed the need for stronger collaboration between the police and the public to prevent crimes.

Mr Neequaye assured of GIZ continuous support to the Ghana Police Service to accomplish its goals, adding that a training manual would be developed for the personnel to aid them in their work.

He appealed to the participants to take the training serious to help them in their career.

Some of the topics to be discussed are introduction to community policing, ethics and professionalism, police patrols, Neighborhood Watch Committees, problem oriented policing, consultation and planning, crime prevention and accountability Monitoring and Evaluation.

BY ANITA NYARKO-YIRENKYI