Stay away from politics - IGP to police personnel

Accra, July 21, GNA - With the onset of political activities heralding the 2012 elections, personnel of the Ghana Police Service have been urged not to get involve in active politics in order to uphold the integrity of the country's democratic foundations.

"Active participation in party politics by personnel of the service could be dangerous, and poses serious threat to the very foundation of our democracy," the Inspector General of Police, Mr Paul Quaye, warned at the opening of the two-day National Police Command Conference in Accra.

"The (Police) Service has an important role to play in sustaining the democratic governance of this country. We must at all times endeavour to work hard to support and protect the democratic structures and procedures of our institutions," he said.

The conference, under the theme: One Year of Strategic National Policing Plan - Its Impact on Contemporary Road Traffic Management and Democratic Policing", has drawn participants from the Headquarters Management Advisory Board, as well as police commanders nationwide.

The gathering seeks to shore up gains made in the National Strategic Policing Plan, deliberate on key policy issues, develop strategies for future growth and development, and engender esprit de corps among commanders.

The conference would also deliberate on democratic police interventions and road traffic management.

The IGP said the workings of the Service had improved since the institutionalisation of the Strategic Policing Plan despite constraints, to becoming a world class Police Service capable of delivering planned, democratic and protective services, comparable to international standards and professional best practices.

He noted, however, that strategies being adopted by the Service to improve policing in the country would come to naught if the public did not contribute significantly to those efforts.

"There is therefore the need to partner the public to ensure free flow of information to enable us to carry out this responsibility." Since the adoption of the five-year National Strategic Policing Plan in 2010, it has become the formal roadmap to the Police Service.

IGP Quaye said although the Police Administration had embarked on "systematic and sustained" efforts to implement the Plan with notable results like the DNA laboratory and the significant improvement in public cooperation leading to remarkable reduction in serious crimes, the full implementation had not been realized.