By Kofi Akordor
Here was this police constable with his AK-47 rifle straddling his shoulders labouring to his duty post on foot. Then a taxi pulled up with an offer from the driver to take the constable, since the driver was heading towards the policeman’s destination.
By some inexplicable coincidence, this taxi driver continued to meet the police constable on the days that followed and offered him lift on each occasion until they struck an acquaintance and became friends.
Can you imagine what will happen if these two persons — the police constable and the taxi driver — meet again, this time not as friends but as a law enforcement officer and a suspect in a criminal case?
They say that one good turn deserves another and so we should not expect the constable to forget so soon the assistance he had been getting from the taxi driver as he made his daily journey to his duty post.
The outcome of that case can well be predicted.
Imagine the unpleasant duty of a police prosecutor who is handling a case involving his landlord who is accommodating several police officers because the service cannot build its own residential facility for its officers. Even if the prosecutor is able to maintain his professional independence, he will leave doubts in the minds of many members of the public, especially if the case should end up in favour of the landlord.
Even though our security as individuals and as a nation relies crucially on an effective, efficient and well-equipped police service, our response to the needs and requirements of service personnel has been on the reserve side.
Our governments have made and continue to make promises to provide the needs of service men and women and equip the service with the requisite logistics so that the personnel can deliver. These provisions remain largely inadequate, thus putting a lot of strain — physical, mental, psychological and financial — on the service men and women, especially those who are committed and determined to execute their mandate in the interest of national peace and security.
Often, members of the public expect the best from the police, without sparring a few moments to ponder over their service conditions and the circumstances under which they operate.
To start with, most of our police stations lack spacious and environmentally friendly accommodation. The difference in the conditions of the policemen and suspects in their custody is not very clear. Both are crammed in a very stuffy and limited space and they cannot avoid the stench of a mixture of human sweat and waste material exuding from what is described as a cell.
Working in such a stifling environment renders the police officer himself an aggrieved person. Already there is a general problem with salaries among public servants and so his reaction to complaints from the public will not be the best.
Many projects initiated more than 30 years ago by the Acheampong regime to provide office accommodation for the police in the regional capitals have been ignored and abandoned by successive governments. Why should such a sensitive and strategic public institution be treated so shabbily? Is it another case of lack of funds?
After working in such a hostile environment, the policeman or woman does not get any solace when he closes from work. First is how to get home, followed by whether there is any comfort in what is supposed to be a home. Home may be a small one-bedroom structure accommodating the man and his wife, about three children and two other nephews or nieces.
Privacy is limited, so from the word go children have to start picking some few tricks from their father and their mother which they make good use of prematurely, with dire consequences. These are living conditions that can subject an ardent moralist to severe temptations. Not many are able to overcome them and, therefore, they compromise their professionalism and reduce justice delivery to mere mockery.
Apart from personal discomfort and inconvenience which, somehow, some are able to cope with, the greatest problem lies in logistics. Here, it is not only the policeman or woman who suffers but the whole society. Many victims of crime find it difficult to believe if told that there was no vehicle at post to be used to effect an arrest. A complainant is, therefore, asked to look for a vehicle if his/her case should be given any attention. Straightaway, the policeman/woman has put himself/herself in a compromising situation, since it is difficult to sit in somebody’s vehicle and not deliver to his/her satisfaction, no matter how bad his/her case may turn out to be.
The police lack many things, from common flashlights and raincoats to patrol vehicles and communication equipment. This has virtually rendered the service a destitute institution always appealing for public support.
And that is where the danger lies.
The Police Service should not at any time lose its independence. They say there is no free lunch and we should not expect that any act of charity from individuals or corporate institutions will go unrewarded. And the only way the police can reward a benefactor is to look the other way when there is a breach of the law.
Not too long ago, a prominent businessman who took up the crusade of helping the police overcome some of their predicaments got entangled with the law when one of his sons was involved in a shooting incident in a night club. How do you ignore the pleas of a benefactor who even donated vehicles to the police, more so when the person had shown remorse and was prepared to pay for the damage done and compensate the victim?
Nothing has been heard again of the case and there is general belief that the police have reciprocated the businessman’s goodwill and gesture.
No matter the financial standing of the country, the basic needs of the police should not be provided as an act of charity. The police need the support and co-operation of members of the public as far as volunteering information is concerned. Beyond that, any material support offered today will compromise the independence and effectiveness of the police tomorrow. This will be too expensive a price to pay for a vehicle, a television set, a computer, a flashlight or a free ride.
The police are not alone in this category. Members of the judiciary and other law enforcement agencies and the media should be careful when they receive gifts from individuals and institutions.
When the Kufuor administration released a piece of state property to the Ghana Journalists Association to be used as an international press centre, some people were quick to read meaning into it. They claimed it was an indirect way of courting friendship with the media to gain undue advantage. That might not necessarily have been the case and it could be that the government then was only interested in contributing to a vibrant and internationally acclaimed media.
So if even the government that is enjoined to cater for the needs and interests of all should be suspected of courting favours from the media with a house, why should people think that any private support for the police will be without any selfish and parochial interests? The police should be the last institution to fall into the pockets of private individuals and corporate institutions for the reason that the state has failed in its responsibility to this important institution.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
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