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Security operatives at the Passport Office in Accra on Thursday detained a journalist for several minutes accusing her of security breach. Hanna Odame, a reporter at Joy FM was interviewing frustrated passport applicants who had lined up outside the premises of the passport office when the two security operatives in plain clothes accosted her, ordered her to stop her recording and later ushered her into one of the offices. According to her, the men querried her for not asking permission before proceeding with her interviews and ordered her on two occasions to play the contents of her interview - an order to which she obliged. Even though the director of the passport office had cautioned her to bring a letter requesting for an interview the next time she wants information, the security operatives had other ideas and wanted to take the matter further. She told Myjoyonline.com but for the timely intervention of the Information Ministry she would have been taken to the national security for further interrogation. Security A deputy Information Minister, Baba Jamal who played a crucial role in the release of the journalist was humble in his rescue effort but cautioned all journalists to be wary of public places, especially those with security implications, before carrying out their duties. He told Joy News� Dzifa Bampoh given the privacy of people�s personal data within the passport office the journalist ought not to have asked permission before proceeding with her interviews. He described the incident as unfortunate but partly blamed the reporter for not respecting the rules of the passport office. �We need to make it clear that there are rules and regulations and for that matter if a person is going to do your work, your own work, yes but within the confines of the rules and regulations of other departments. If you don�t do that we will not be safe as a country,� he said. �We should all learn that areas like the passport office, areas where people�s personal information is concerned; it is a matter of security that we need to protect,� he said. Security Analyst Dr. Kwesi Aning minced no words in his condemnation of the conduct of the security personnel. He said the conduct by the security personnel was �terribly unprofessional and highly unacceptable.� He said the muscular and crude interpretation of what security is about, only but tarnishes the reputation of the security outfit. He said the deputy minister�s description of the passport office as a security zone is a �bombastic, unprofessional, blatant, misinterpretation and misapplication of the word security and does not help the agency itself and does not help the Ministry of Information too.� "There is nothing at that office that if you know how to use the internet you cannot get access to." �It is when people want to securitize everything and do not want citizens whose tax money contribute to paying for these public institutions to raise concerns and questions about performance and service delivery.� He found it difficult to appreciate how the journalist�s questioning of the frustrated applicants posed a security threat to the passport office. He recommended refresher courses for the security personnel in order for them to get over their �crude� form of policing and ensure they learn �more nuanced and modern approaches of providing security as a service whilst at the same time protecting the interest of the state.� The General Secretary of the Ghana Journalists Association Bright Blewu also believed the security personnel should have been more cautious and professional in their dealings with the journalist. He did not consider the activity of the journalist in question as breaching the sacred security codes of the passport office. Objection But the deputy Information, Minister Baba Jamal was not the least impressed with the assertions by Dr. Aning. He applauded the conduct of the security personnel for not harassing or intimidating the journalist in any way or form and urged public commendation for the security men who he said acted in a very professional way. In a happy ending to a controversial enterprise though, two of the applicants who spoke to the journalist had their complaints resolved; one had his passport issued and other promised to come for it later.