Three thousand two hundred and twenty-four police recruits have passed out from five police training schools in the country. They are made up of 1,953 males and 1,020 females who constitute the first batch of recruits for 2022 who have successfully completed the Basic Police Training programme.
The graduation ceremonies were held simultaneously in the national capital - Accra, Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital; Ho in the Volta Region, Kumasi in the Ashanti Region and Pwalugu in the Upper East. In all, 847, 416, 361, 612 and 725 of the recruits were trained in the regions in that order.
During the six-month training, the recruits acquired skills in riding, driving, swimming, crowd control, incident, disaster, crime scene and traffic management, radio communication, intelligence gathering and community-based patrols.
Other programmes included charge office management, access control, arrest and search procedures, use of force procedures and human rights, client care and professional police ethics, tactical progression, weapon handling and high-risk operation.
Also, deserving recruits were honoured for their sterling performances in the fields they were adjudged in.
Largest intake
Mary Anane-Amponsah reports from the National Police Training School at Tesano, Accra that the 847 recruits who were the largest intake, displayed parade formations such as Nkabom, (Unity) Dwennimmen and Nteasee (Understanding) to the admiration of all present.
The Director-General of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Commissioner of Police (COP) Isaac Ken Yeboah, who was the reviewing officer for the parade, said the service under the new administration had positioned itself to ensure that personnel exhibited international best practices in consonance with the vision of the service.
He said that would enhance the way the police controlled crowd and maintained law and order in the country.
“This is the first batch of recruit intake since the government gave clearance for recruitment of 5,000 men and women into the service,” COP Yeboah said, adding that the second and third batches were still in training.
“At the senior officer level, the Police Academy, for the first time in history is running Cadet Officers Courses for 308 personnel at a session, which is the biggest number witnessed at the academy,” the Director-General of CID indicated.
All-male recruits
Intakes at the training schools in Koforidua and Ho were all males. From Koforidua, Pacome Emmanuel Damalie reports that an all-male 416 new recruits at the Koforidua Police Training School passed out as General Constables and General Sergeants.
The number also included 50 under cadets (graduates) who passed out as General Sergeants at the event held at the Jubilee Park to officially admit the new police officers into the Ghana Police Service. Addressing the parade, the Director-General of Police Administration, COP Christian Tetteh Yohuno, who was the reviewing officer, charged the new recruits to serve as good examples in order not to drag the reputation of the service into disrepute.
He said the Police Administration had taken a stance to weed out miscreants and criminals that were parading themselves as police officers, thus, contributing to the destruction of the hard-earned reputation of the police service.
COP Yohuno said emerging crimes, terrorism, cyber-related crimes and changes in modus operandi of criminals were some of the issues that impinged on the police every day.
That translated into increased demand for police personnel to deliver services that were more diverse, complex, skilled and specialized in order to deal with current crime trends.
“It is to equip police personnel with the requisite knowledge and the skill sets needed to effectively deal with these challenges of modern policing that the IGP, Dr George Akuffo Dampare, introduced a paradigm shift in recruit training modules and a changing focus in policing in the country as a whole,” he said.
That the IGP did this by standardizing recruit training modules and curriculum, and restructuring of recruit training activities with expanded improved facilities, the Director-General of Police Administration said.
COP Yohonu indicated that equal emphasis was now placed on-field training with practical attachment to gain field experience under close supervision of cadet officers. “Hitherto, the emphasis was mainly on enhancement of recruits knowledge on the laws they are expected to enforce when they pass out,” he explained.
<<Print>>