National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Ashaiman, Ernest Norgbey, is sounding the alarm of the potential security threat arising from the dismissal of police recruits from police training schools nationwide for using fake certificates.
Mr. Norgbey described the situation as “a disaster in waiting” as the sacked recruits could turn to crime given their new status of unemployment.
[contextly_sidebar id=”59yIf6dKbTXMG8omA2RvN3SiNpK8vnW9″]The mere fact that the recruits have had basic knowledge in police operations is as dangerous as having a weapon, the MP noted on the Point Blank segment on Eyewitness News.
“If you are unemployed and you don’t have anything to do, definitely you have to go for armed robbery, and now that you have the skills to operate, you can do just that… after training a person for months and giving him the necessary skills about security implications, it is obvious that person can also operate,” he argued.
Background
Over 40 police trainees have so far been dismissed from police training schools for allegedly using fake certificates to get recruited into the Ghana Police Service.
The affected trainees, who have been arrested, were recruited on November 15, 2016, and had been in the training schools for the past four months.
They are said to have either altered results on their certificates or changed the names on the certificates. Others were also found to have submitted certificates belonging to the opposite sex.
No place for late background checks
Mr. Norgbey looked to lay some blame at the feet of the police service for what he suggested were lax background check procedures not befitting a security institution.
He insisted that, late verification had no place in the security services because fraudulent persons may pick up key skills before they are found out.
“You have to do the studies around these people before you give them their appointment letters saying they are recruited. Security matters are different from tertiary school matters. You have to make sure you satisfy all the requirements before you give them letters for training,” he stressed.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana