"Image of Police at a low ebb" – Short

The image of the Ghana Police Service has sunk badly, former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Emile Short has said.

“The image of the Police is at a very low ebb,” Justice Short said on Morning Starr Wednesday, adding: “…You must have read about all the reports that the Police is the most corrupt institution in the country.”

“It’s a matter of concern for me and I’m always wondering what the IGP [Inspector General of Police] is doing about this perception of the Police being the most corrupt institution in the country,” Mr Short told host Kafui Dey.

Two separate reports released a few months apart, by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), both named the Police Service as the most corrupt public institution in the country.

Mr Short said apart from the image of the Police Service having been battered by corruption, festering lawlessness on the roads has also not helped its image.

“I see on the road constantly Police people stopping, especially the commercial vehicles. Regularly they will just draw them to the side of the road and they [Drivers] tell you that all they [Police] do is to extort money from them; the taxi drivers will tell you [same]; my own driver, when I’m not in the car will tell me that the Police stopped him and tried to extort money from him,” Mr Short said.

He also narrated stories about how some Police officers extort money from teenage prostitutes and allow them to operate in the night instead of arresting them.

“They also watch vehicles act lawlessly on the road,” wondering: “Why is it that the IGP is not sensitive to these daily occurrences and is not doing something about it to ensure that the image and reputation of the Police is improved?”

“I mean I find it very disturbing because the IGP himself and you senior officers [referring to the Public Affairs Director of the Police Service Superintendent Cephas Arthur who appeared with him on the show] are on the road every day and you see these things, you see what the police do on the road, you see all the lawlessness that is on the road but you do nothing about it” he bemoaned.

However, Superintendent Arthur said things have rather improved in recent times adding that the IGP and his team are very “sensitive” to all the concerns highlighted.