IGP, David Asante-Apeatu
We wish we did not have to do an editorial, an unpleasant one, for that matter about the police at this time. The institution has had too much bad press in the past fortnight and this is not good for all of us as a people.
Since there is no rival police institution in the country and that is the norm worldwide, our law enforcement setup must be supported by all to deliver according to internationally-acclaimed best practices.
When the Police suffer a weekly bad press as a result of misconduct on the part of personnel, it erodes the respect the institution deserves from members of the public to function properly and in the interest of citizens and the state.
Indeed, we did not expect that so soon after the bad press they earned from the Kumasi shooting debacle and the merciless assault on a woman by a cop, the Police would be in the middle of another negative episode such as the lashing of a fourteen year-old-boy by cops upon the orders of their commander.
Even more damning is the crudeness of the unlawful punishment. What informed such a decision by the district commander?
This is not an anomaly enacted by any other rank but a commissioned officer above the rank of Assistant Superintendent Of Police. For a DSP, a district commander, to order his subordinates to lash a teenager they way it happened in the Western Region, is regrettable.
There are orders which should not be obeyed. An order from a DSP, a district commander to his men to lash a teenager is an unlawful command which should be ignored.
It is important to state at this stage that when an order is unlawful it should not be carried out and so the cops who did the lashing should also be sanctioned especially since one of them reportedly hurled his boot at the poor boy when he is fleeing from the punishment. There is no law in Ghana whose breach exacts lashing as punishment. Such punishments are only in the realm of Sharia, not English Law. In any case, a police officer is not a court and cannot prescribe a punishment as the district commander did. We must be thankful to God that he did not order the shooting of the boy.
By his conduct, this superior officer loses the authority to command a district. His indiscretion has inflicted another blow to the image of the Police.
We are pleased that the Inspector General Of Police who has been on his feet these past few weeks addressing emerging challenges in the Police, has responded to this one too with an interdiction order and an investigation.
An investigation would definitely enable us to know what triggered the indiscretion on the part of the district commander. We pray that this would be the last time that a superior officer would descend to this depth of indiscretion.