In a bid to rid the country of the fear that has accompanied the recent spate of armed robberies, lawlessness and general insecurity, President Akufo-Addo has outlined some measures his government is undertaking to beef-up security and ensure citizen-protection.
Apart from securing CCTV cameras to be installed at all police stations and vantage points around the country, the President announced that around 4,000 recruits will be inducted into the Service to beef-up the present strength to tackle the growing incidences of violent crime and robberies that have sprung up in recent times.
The President made this disclosure when he inaugurated a new police station in the Ashanti Region, and stated that an additional thousand vehicles are also being procured for the Police Service to enable it respond to crime situations in a timely manner.
All these interventions are good, since the security of citizens has been greatly compromised by these lawless acts which have seen innocent persons lose lives, property and vast sums of money which take a lifetime to acquire.
However, this Paper would like to react to the mode of recruitment by appealing to the powers-that-be for the stringent requirements for recruitment not to be sidelined in recruiting persons of questionable character – either because they have been recommended to by influential party operatives or persons with political clout, since we are in this country and have heard influential politicians boast of the number of persons they have managed to secure police placements for etc.
We understand that desperate actions call for desperate measures, but this does not mean the Police Service should compromise its integrity to recruit persons simply because they were recommended by people with political influence.
Let the recruits go through the same stringent scrutiny that persons seeking employment in the service are required to go through. We acknowledge that there are bad nuts in every facet of our national life, including the security services, and we should exercise great caution in recruiting persons to uphold the law.
Such persons should be of impeccable character, such that the citizenry will have no qualms about reposing their confidence and trust in them. Sometimes weapons wielded by these criminals suggest more than meets the eye, and we need to ensure the Service doesn’t entertain collaborators.
