Police Service to increase recruitment of personnel

The Ghana Police Service has embarked on plans to recruit about 4,000 Police personnel within the next two years in a bid to solve the under -staffing in the Service.

The Service is at present severely understaffed and this has necessitated the massive recruitment drive by the government and to this end there are plans to recruit 2,000 personnel this year and a further 2,000 next year.

Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Minister of Defence and Acting Minister of The Interior, said this when Ernest Attuquaye Armah, NDC- Ga South, asked if the Minister was aware that the community of Dom Sampaman with assistance from the Ga District assembly had completed a Police station project in the town and what plans he had to support it.

The Minister said there was currently a recruitment exercise going on and when the training of the new recruits was completed within the next few months, personnel would be posted to the new station at Dom Sampaman.

Armah in another question asked the Minister what steps the ministry was taking to assist the Gbawe community in the construction of a Police station since the chief had provided land and the residents were making contributions in cash and kind.

Dr Addo-Kufuor said the issue of opening of new Police stations went beyond the provision of a building since there was also the demand for manpower and equipment to make the station functional.

He said the Police administration was conducting a study into the possibility of opening more Police stations in the country including the new township of Gbawe. Dr Addo-Kufuor said some of the factors to be taken into account were the population of the community, economic activities in the area and the distance from existing Police station.

The Minister also stated that mobile Police vans were to be provided to handle emergency and other Police duties in areas where there were no Police in view of the inability of opening Police stations in all towns and communities.

He said this in an answer to a question asked by Ernest Attuquaye Armah, NDC- Ga South, as to whether the Minister was aware that there was only one Police station at Pokuase that catered for the whole of the Northern sector of Ga South and if so what were the plans to provide a station around Obom or Kwaku Panfo to cater for the people there.

Dr Addo-Kufuor said in the interim, the Police administration was using patrol teams to operate in the area and the arrangement would be continued until a decision was taken on whether to open a new Police station for the area.

He said the Police Service would show its appreciation to all communities that were making efforts at assisting in the providing buildings for the Service and expressed the hope other communities and District assemblies would emulate them.