Change as a constant phenomenon was played out last Friday when the former IGP Mr. James Oppong-Boanuh handed over the command of the Ghana Police Service to Dr. George Akuffo Dampare.
The latter takes over a Police Service different from the one he was enlisted into a few decades ago.
Today the law enforcement department is peopled by smart phone/social media powered cops belonging to various Whatsapp groups of their intakes and even squads in the face of equally smart criminals.
The smart criminals armed with accompanying software and firearms are constantly on the move sharpening their skills so they would be ahead of law enforcement.
The criminal networks in which they operate exploit the ECOWAS protocols to their advantage. They crisscross the sub-region at will even in the face of shut borders our porous frontiers offering them the necessary impetus to do so.
Gossips, leakages of restricted wireless messages and spreading of sometimes rumours about senior officers by subordinates through social media have all become the challenges of the leadership of the Ghana Police Service.
Interferences from officialdom have not helped matters as they impact negatively on the morale of personnel and quality of service.
These realities demand innovations from the leadership of the law enforcement institution which still harbours remnants of colonial era policing.
The past few years have been challenging to law enforcement. Violent crimes, proliferation of firearms in the hands of non-state actors, indiscipline on highways all demand appropriate responses from the new IGP.
The entries at the Police Cenotaph have witnessed a relative spike as law enforcement officers are slain on duty by criminals with sophisticated weaponry.
While the Service can boast of dedicated and selfless personnel it nonetheless contains bad nuts too whose unprofessionalism continues to present the Ghana Police Service in bad light.
The appointment of Dr. George Akuffo Dampare at this time of the history of the law enforcement department is auspicious.
There has been a massive approval to his appointment his service records showing positive entries.
For a police officer who rose through the ranks to become an IGP and served in all the departments of the Service, he must of course be primed with the requisite experience to exact the changes that the Ghana Police Service needs to confront the challenges posed by smart criminals.
In the regimental world, morale of personnel should not be taken for granted and this the gentleman appreciates very much as evidenced from his days as Director General Welfare; he raised the spirits of despondent personnel who were bedridden and felt let down by a Service they had enlisted in to serve God and country.
We wish to join Mr. Oppong-Boanuh in asking personnel as well as Ghanaians to render him the necessary support without which he cannot live up to our expectations.