The Ashanti Regional Commander of Police, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Nathan Kofi Boakye has warned that henceforth any police officer, particularly personnel of Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) seen talking on phone while on duty will be dealt with.
He said it was unacceptable for policemen to be talking on phone while directing traffic or attending to the public.
To this end, a special committee has been formed to check on officers who would fall foul of the directive, and explained that there was the need to instil discipline in personnel as that would give them the moral authority to also discipline the public.
According to him, the Service could not do without discipline and was happy with the level of discipline among personnel in the region.
The regional commander was speaking at the opening ceremony of one-week in-service promotional training course for some 360 personnel drawn from the various divisions within the region.
The course is a requirement for corporals, lance corporals and sergeants for promotion.
Kofi Boakye urged the personnel to take the course seriously as they would be assessed at the end of it and their promotion would depend on their performance, saying the days of free promotions were over and that police officers would have to earn their promotions based on their knowledge of the rules of engagements.
He said for personnel to be able to perform their duties creditably, there was the need for them to be abreast with the social issues and cultural intricacies of their communities as that would give them an understanding of the issues prevailing at the communities and guide them in finding solutions to them.
According to him, policing was about solving issues and if as a police officer one was unable to solve problems, “then you have no business in the Service.”
The regional Commander explained that due modern trends in crimes, there was the need for the personnel to keep up with these trends and devise means of tackling them and described the course as one of such avenues to learn the new techniques of fighting crimes.
He mentioned some of these modern crimes as car snatching, armed robberies and mugging which he said have become rampant in the region.
As part of the measures to combat these crimes, he said the regional command was encouraging the formation of community police units since the police could not be everywhere all the time.
He said some of the sergeants will be posted to some of the communities to establish these community police to compliment the work of the Police Service.
The Head of Community Policing Unit of the Police Service, Chief Superintendent Habiba Twumasi Sarpong also tasked the participants to take the course seriously and be attentive as their promotion would depend on their assessment at the end of the course.
Source: Graphic Online