Accra, June 17, GNA – Dr George Akuffo Dampare, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), has called on personnel of the Ghana Police Service (GPS) to help make the Service attractive.
“When you develop yourself, gain respect, you gain your trust of a community as an individual, it is good but if the organisation that you have been associated with is not respected, then whatever personal respect that you have, would be diluted by the disrespect of the association you are associated with,” he said.
Dr Dampare was addressing members of the Police Ladies’ Association (POLAS) at the opening ceremony of their two-day Annual General Meeting in Accra.
In all, 250 policewomen selected from the 18 police regions are attending the meeting, which brought together past POLAS Presidents, founding members, some members of the Police Management Board, representatives from their sister security agencies and others.
“…If we do not do our best to make the police attractive, if we do not do our best to make the police have the confidence of the public, if we do not do our best to make the police be respected, if we do not do our best to make the public have trust in us, if we do not do our best for us to go out there for people to give us the authority to operate, detect arrest and protect them, it will come back to you.”
He said that was because they would always be known as police officers, their families would be known as the family of a police officer, their children would be known as the children of a police officer, grandchildren would be known as the grandchildren of a police officer.
“What I pray for, is that we will succeed in developing ourselves in principle nature, in God-fearing nature, in a way that earn ourselves individual respect, both within our families, communities and across the length and breadth of our country.”
Dr Dampare said if the personnel did what they were supposed to do and built for themselves envious respected organisation, what was going to happen was that wherever they walked, found themselves, they would be duly respected and acknowledged as individuals.
He charged them to develop the right conscience in performing their duties and asked them to be committed to winning the hearts of the people, adding that they were supposed to be friends with the people that they served.
The IGP called on the public to constructively criticize the Service and commend it when it did the right things in order not to demotivate personnel and reiterated the Police’s commitment to protect lives and property.
Commissioner of Police (COP) Mrs Maame Yaa Tiwaah Addo-Danquah, President of the Police Ladies’ Association (POLAS), urged the members to help restore public trust, respect, and gain back public confidence in the Ghana Police Service.
She encouraged the ladies to continue to push for opportunities and advancements, adding that opportunities abounded in the Information and Communication Technology age and encouraged them to move from their comfort zones.
Mrs Addo-Danquah, also the Director General of the Economic and Organised Crime Office, was glad that the Association, which started with 12 members could now boast of 10,951, which was 28 percent of the police population of 39,184, almost 70 years ago.
Out of the number, she said 282 were senior officers representing19 percent of the senior officers’ population of 1,456.
GNA