One of the stories in this edition is as telling as it is irritating. It is yet again a glaring evidence about the acts of irresponsibility even criminality put up ironically by some police NCOs.
There is no doubt that some law enforcement personnel are unfit to continue being in the list of cops in this country: these should be identified and delisted forthwith and with ignominy.
The incident under review comes on the heels of the verdict of murder slapped by an investigating committee on law enforcement officers implicated in the Manso Nkwanta shooting in the Ashanti Region.
Some persons in police uniform are dangerous and constitute as much danger to members of the public as the criminals they are by law expected to arrest and arraign before courts of competent jurisdiction.
There is no excuse for police officers to commandeer a service vehicle using state provided fuel, firearms et al for an illegality. Blimey! What the hell is happening to us in our beloved country?
These cops from the Odorkor Police Command must either not understand what policing is about or they are simply being criminal minded. We would not be surprised if the said cops have links with undesirable elements in the underworld.
If weapons can be moved from the armoury with such ease for operations which are criminal in nature, then something is wrong which needs immediate addressing.
One of the officers is said to have dared a Superintendent of Immigration to continue driving. Such effrontery from an NCO to a commissioned officer of a rank equivalent to the cop’s boss at the district or even senior is unacceptable. We wonder if he was going to shoot at the immigration officer who was only driving to the GIS headquarters to investigate the suspected criminal elements which is within his remit.
We wish the immigration officer had dared the irresponsible cop to shoot. But when dealing with stupid persons wielding a semi automatic firearm, considering them as lunatics and be safe is a better option.
Do the cops from Odorkor Police Station know that the Ghana Police Service like the GIS draw their authority from the relevant laws in the Constitution of the land and that both are sectors under the Interior Ministry charged with security of the country?
If such unfortunate developments are not addressed immediately and the appropriate consequences exacted, we would not be safe at the hands of bad cops.
It would be necessary to interdict the said cops who undertook the unauthorized operation and to especially, find out their level of interest in the immigration-related case the GIS personnel were handling. We, especially, would want to know whether indeed one of the suspects made a call to his cop friend at Odorkor.
Who authorized the movement of the service vehicle and the release of firearms from the armoury?
The bad elements in the Police are tarnishing the image of the law enforcement system- from virtual begging for ‘water’ while on patrol duty to extortions- these chaps must be identified and dismissed.
Even more worrying is their penchant for lying when they are cornered. Bad cops can easily organize weapons and place same on the side of persons they murder as in the Ashanti Region case and tag them criminals.
The very good persons in the Police Service, it is unfortunate, are sharing in the berating discourse. They must expose the bad elements so that the Police would be rid of the undesirables. We shall return if no action is taken against the GIS-attacking cops.