Accra, Aug 07, GNA – Dr Festus Aubyn, a Security Analyst, has urged Police Officers not to view the recent reshuffle that hit the Ghana Police Service as a form of punishment.
He said, he was of the opinion that the reshuffle that the Acting Inspector-General of Police Dr George Akuffo-Dampare had embarked upon was to enable him put the right officers in the right positions to help him prosecute his agenda.
He advised the Police Officers to see transfers as part of their work and to do whatever they could in their capacity to ensure that the Police Service redeem its image from the public.
“I would say that all those who have been transferred, some have been elevated, some have been transferred outside their jurisdictions, I would say that they should work hard and help the IGP achieve his goal or objective and not sabotage him just because they didn’t expect to be transferred to wherever they’ve been sent to; but they should rather work as a team and build the Police Service,” Dr Aubyn said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra.
He urged the Senior Police Officers to team up with the IGP to build public confidence in the Police Service and to ensure that together they would provide the necessary service that the Ghanaian public demands of them.
He maintained that reshuffling had always been a necessary evil in the sense that it had both positives and negatives.
He explained that every IGP comes into the office with his own ideas and objectives of what he wants to achieve by the end of his tenure; adding that in doing so, he needs people who he could trust in terms of their competence and in terms of their efficiency to deliver on what he intends to achieve.
He said the reshuffle the Acting IGP had embarked upon was more or less a way of ensuring that the right people with the right capabilities were put into certain positions that would help him achieve his objectives.
This, he said was because most of those who were occupying those positions now were send there by the former IGP and so as a new IGP he needed people who he could have confidence and trust in.
“So, in that sense it helps him to deliver on his mandate. Now on the other hand, when police officers are within a particular location for a long time, sometimes it creates corrupt practices and it also leads to compromises sometimes even with a criminal network and so such changes are sometimes also necessary to ensure that some of the networks that have been built, which do not order well for the work of the police is more or less cut off,” Dr Aubyn stated.
“And that is why we say the transfer is a necessary evil because in one way it helps the IGP to achieve his objectives and in another sense it also impact on police efficiency; because sometimes it takes more than one year for a Police Officer to really get acquainted with his or her environment, they need to study the terrain, the nature of the crime in those areas.”
Adding that Police Officers need to understand the nature of the threats that they were dealing with and it takes time.
Dr Aubyn noted that the reshuffle was necessary for the Acting IGP to achieve his objectives of maybe preventing crime before it happens or help him to achieve the kind of internal stability that Ghanaians expect him to do.
“We should also know that he (Dr Akuffo-Dampare) is Acting and he needs to deliver for his appointing authority to have confidence in him to confirm him, so whatever he needs to do to ensure that the Police Service win the trust and confidence of the people, that crime level is reduced dramatically, that people can go about their daily duties without thinking about theft or crime, I think it’s worth it,” Dr Aubyn said.
“But of course when people are in various positions and they become very comfortable, transferring them also becomes more or less like a disincentive for them, but it is part of the police work that transfers are always expected.”
Dr Aubyn urged the Acting IGP to ensure that Police Officers shouldn’t be transferred to certain positions just because they were his favourites; declaring that such transfers should be based on competence, it should be based on merit, it should be based on the person’s capabilities in terms of holding that position and bringing about the change that he requires of them.
“So, it shouldn’t be based on favouritism or nepotism but it should be based on the competence and capabilities of the people who occupying the new positions that has been given to them,” he said.
GNA