Come Again, DSP Cephas Arthur

Ever since he was appointed as the Director of Police Public Affairs, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Cephas Arthur has proven that he has no credibility to hold that position. It is a shame that anytime credible media houses publish stories about the Police Service that he perceived as negative, the only thing he does is to go out there and attack the credibility of the media house. He has done this to numerous media houses, including The Finder, and we think it is about time he was told the truth. Last week, The Finder published a story titled �Crooks invade forces, recruitment through quota system to blame, says expert.� Instructively, among all the security agencies, only DSP Cephas Arthur jumped from one radio station to the other to attack The Finder. The behaviour of DSP Cephas Arthur, who has the responsibility to build a positive image for the Police Service, is shameful to say the least and is damaging the reputation of the service. It is shameful for DSP Cephas Arthur to go on air and lie through his teeth that crooks are not in the Police Service when all Ghanaians are witnesses to police officers being paraded in the media for robbery and other criminal activities by the same Police Service he speaks for. While attacking The Finder, the discredited DSP Cephas Arthur, when pinned to the wall by hosts of radio programmes, said the police administration should be commended for dismissing cops involved in misconduct and criminal activities. For the record, a total of 947 policemen and women have been dismissed from the Ghana Police Service for various acts of misconduct within three years, then Vice-President John Dramani Mahama announced. President Mahama announced this during the annual Ghana Police Service West African Security Service Activities (WASSA) 2011 end-of-year party at the Police Headquarters in Accra. He said this in 2012 and the Ghana News Agency (GNA) filed the story, which was published on myjoyonline.com on August 25, 2012. Similarly, the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau under the Ghana Police Service said 108 police officers were dismissed from the service between January 2011 and June 2013 after they were found guilty of various offences. An additional 132 personnel of the service were demoted while 239 were sanctioned during the period for various acts of misconduct. For the first quarter of this year, 21 police personnel were dismissed for various acts of misconduct. A professional PRO of an institution like the Ghana Police Service must be worried about the dismissal of such a high number of officers in three years and as such fashion out strategies that would enable the service deal with such happenings. Probably, DSP Cephas Arthur may also accuse the President of lying about the numbers that have been dismissed. DSP Cephas Arthur is nowhere near thefirst-class professionals that work with The Finder. The Police PRO should know that the negative stories about the service are largely given to the media by credible sources who are not happy about such acts that sink the image of the service. Indeed, if DSP Cephas Arthur is credible and knows his job, he could have managed these perceived negative stories better to improve the image of the Police Service. It is about time the Police Service recruited a well-qualified, professional and credible PRO to manage its communication as DSP Cephas Arthur has failed woefully to do so. In March this year, the Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed Alhassan, unveiled an ambitious programme to, in his own words, �reaffirm public confidence in the Ghana Police Service.� He said the public image of the Police Service had sunk so low that urgent steps needed to be taken to salvage the image of the service. Five months after the launch, the public perception of the police remains negative, largely because the mouthpiece of the service, DSP Cephas Arthur, has failed woefully to liaise with the media to aggressively communicate the message. It is appalling that DSP Cephas Arthur remains in charge of Police Public Affairs for the past three years despite his abysmal performance. DSP Cephas Arthur, we are ready for you.