‘Civilian, police distrust threat to democracy’

The Bureau of Public Safety (BPS) has warned that the distrust between the Ghana Police Service and the public must be dealt with in order to prevent a total breakdown of law and order in the wake of three disturbing incidents and condemn them.

“This, if not addressed with urgency, public tranquility and law and order will grind to a complete halt thereby threatening our democratic development, we’re also calling for the establishment of a permanent and independent police complaints body and action taken against the officers who assaulted the three journalists.”

 This was contained in a statement signed and issued by Nana Yaw Akwada, Executive Director of the Bureau.

The bureau called for the arrest and prosecution of Kennedy Agyapong, Member of Parliament for Assin Central for obstructing a law enforcement officer from performing his lawful duties as well as the cop beaters at Weija in the Greater Accra Region.

“There is the need to re-orient the entire Police Service to reconcile their psyche with the tenets of democratic policing and the delivery of service rather than exacting force on the citizenry whose fundamental rights and freedoms are to be protected by the police,” it noted.

A group of policemen assaulted three journalists of the Ghanaian Times including a lactating mother, who collapsed and had to be rushed to the hospital for medical attention.

A widely shared video on social media also captured Mr Agyapong being aggressive toward some police officers who were at the scene of a demonstration by students of the University of Education, Winneba.

Another video circulating on social media also showed an assault of a cop by a driver of a commercial bus and his conductor at Weija in the Greater Accra Region. –classfmonline.com