He said the police were even complicit in leaking out the images and identities of these juvenile suspects.

[contextly_sidebar id=”XsdocAJH6Bqs396vCfvxrs9rsRHsS7cK”]COP Yeboah’s comments come after the leaked photos of three teenagers alleged to be involved in a sexual assault case at Bantama in the Ashanti Regional capital, started making the rounds on social media.

Although the Police have remain tight-lipped on the ages of the offenders, it’s been confirmed they are teenagers, as they are being tried by a Juvenile Court.

The Police have also confirmed that, one of them is in Junior High School, whereas the two others are in Senior High School.

Speaking at the opening of the Ghana Police Transformation Agenda which focuses on best practices, COP Yeboah condemned the acts, and admonished personnel to be more protective of juvenile suspects.

“The law says that you should not mention the names of juvenile suspects in your custody. You don’t have to expose even their pictures. But you exposed them and share that information with people. Is that one of the best practices,” the police commander questioned.

What the law says

The Juvenile Justice Act is clear that a juvenile has the right to privacy during the arrest, the investigation of an offence, at the trial of the offence, and at any other stage of the cause or matter.

“A person shall not in the course of arrest, investigation or trial of an offence connected with a juvenile, or at any other stage of the cause or matter, release any information for publication that may lead to the identification of the juvenile. Any person who contravenes subsection (2) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding 250 penalty units or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 12 months or to both,” section 3 of the Act adds.

A better Police Service

COP Yeboah stressed on the need for improvement in the way the police handled suspects generally and interacted with the public.

He lamented that “the reputation and the respect that people have for us is going down. It is up to us to find out why” he said.

As an example of the failings of the police, COP Yeboah noted that “we arrest suspects. The law says you do not have to detain the person for more than 48 hours, but you detain the person for 72 hours or even more. Is that one of the best practices we are talking about?”

He, however, expressed hope that with the adherence to the Ghana Police Transformation Agenda, “everybody will be a leader who would change the police service, and I am sure that a the end of the day, everybody will be a new person and it is going to drive the vehicle behind us so we get to our destination.”

There have been concerns about how the police are eager to sometimes parade or expose crime suspects to the public even before they are declared guilty.

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By: Lauretta Timah & Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post COP Ken Yeboah slams police officers who expose juvenile offenders appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

His deputy, AC Fred Adu Annim has also been promoted to the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police.

These promotions, done in consultation with the Council of State by President Nana Akufo-Addo, are to take effect from July 1, 2017.

These promotions come alongside the promotions of six other Deputy Commissioners of Police and 30 other Assistant Commissioners of Police.

The other newly promoted Commissioners to the rank of COP are Akuribah Yaagy, Director General/National Patrols; Rev. David Nenyi Ampah-Benyin, Central Regional Police Commander; Charles Kpapu Torkor, Commandant at the Ghana Police Command and Staff Collage; Maxwell Sakipasgo Atingane, Director-General/Motor Traffic and Transport; Bright Oduro, Director-General/Criminal Investigations and Osabarima Oware Pinkro III, Director-General/Research and Planning.

This brings the number of Commissioners of Police in Ghana to 14.

The 31 Assistant Commissioners of Police who have been promoted included officers from the general police pool and medical professionals.

The police administration, earlier in 2017, promoted 61 police inspectors to the rank of Chief Inspectors and 678 sergeants have also been promoted to the rank of Inspectors per regulations 37 of the Police Service Regulations 2012, CI 76.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmoline.com/Ghana

The post Nana Addo promotes Ken Yeboah, six other DCOPs appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.