A retired lecturer at the Police Training School, Superintendent Francis Baah, is in support of a call for a review of the training structure for police personnel in the country.
He believes this will among other things help better professional standards in the service.
His comment follows an earlier call by the Eastern Regional Director of Police Operations, DSP Kartey Otumi, who is advocating for an overhaul of the police training curriculum and duration.Speaking to Citi News monitored by Prime News Ghana, Retired Superintendent Baah admonished the police administration to reconsider the issues raised by the Eastern Regional Operations Director, although he did not agree with everything he said.
“The issue about the inadequacy of our training, to an extent I agree with him. During the days of IGP Peter Tenganabang Nanfuri, the training period was extended from six months to nine months. I think at a point it was reversed to six months. It is a good idea, I don’t think that what he is saying is wrong; maybe the police administration will take it into consideration and think of what they can do about it,†he said.
The Eastern Regional Operations Commander of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Kartey Otumi, has posited that the six months training received by police recruits is not enough to ensure professionalism and discipline.
He also emphasized that the content of police training must also change
“A policeman must be a driver; a policeman must be computer literate, a policeman must know how to swim. We don’t do all these things,†DSP Kartey said.
“Me my training it was more sweeping, more fatigue, little learning and I became a police officer.â€
His comment comes on the back of rising incidents of unprofessional conducts by some police personnel in their line of duty with some of their conducts leading to death and in some cases injuring innocent citizens.
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Recently, At the Moree tollbooth in the Central Region,  a Police constable at a duty checkpoint shockingly fired into a vehicle because the driver was said to have refused to pay a road toll of 50 pesewas.
DSP Kartey’s comments come after government recommended the interdiction of 21 police officers over the killing of seven men at Asawase.
He called on the government to establish a three-year police training system instead of the six months training. He believes it will be adequate to ensure professionalism.
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