Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said that the Ghana Police Service will take delivery of one Airbus 350 and two gazelle light attack helicopters in November this year to enhance its work.
According to President Akufo-Addo, hangars for the helicopters have been completed at the National Police Training School, and the six officers who will fly the helicopters have completed their training in South Africa.
The president made this known on Friday (1 October) at the graduation ceremony for the 50th cadet officers’ course at the Police Training Academy in Tesano, Accra.
He said that the government, recognising the difficulties and dangers confronting police personnel in discharging their duties, remains committed to resourcing the service by providing adequate personnel and logistics to enable the police force to deliver on its mandate.
“To this end, since I came to office in January 2017, a total of 568 vehicles, including 15 operational buses, have been presented by the government to the service, a feat unprecedented in its history,” he said.
More FPUs coming
Apart from the existing Formed Police Unit (FPU) in Accra, President Akufo-Addo revealed that an additional 22 light armoured vehicles have been procured for use by the FPUs to be established in November in the Northern, Upper East and Ashanti Regions.
In the next one and a half years, FPUs will be established in the remaining regions that do not have FPUs.
“Two hundred motorbikes have also been distributed to members of the Community Policing initiative to boost the presence of the police in our communities. Modern communication equipment and 4,500 fragmentation jackets have been procured and delivered to the service to protect officers, and help ensure effective policing,” President Akufo-Addo said.
He continued, “At the beginning of my mandate, in 2017, there were 800 CCTV installations in the country for surveillance. At the end of my first term, the figure had gone up to 6,500, and, by the end of the year, another 3,500 will have been added, making a total of almost 11,000 in the country.”
The government, the president said, has strengthened the cybercrime-fighting capabilities of the service by setting up a Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) centre at the National Communications Authority (NCA).
Marine police
Towards protecting the country’s maritime environment and its offshore oil and gas installations, President Akufo-Addo announced that the Ministry of the Interior has procured three Alligator Silver boats in fulfilment of a pledge he made to expand and resource the marine police to help them work with the Ghana navy.
He said that the forensics laboratory of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has been retooled for the first time in its history. In addition, crime officers are given a monthly allowance to support their investigations.
“On addressing the housing needs of the service, the construction of 320 housing units at the National Police Training School is at an advanced stage of completion. Work is ongoing on the construction of a barracks at Kwabenya to replace the one adjacent to the DVLA at 37, which is not fit for purpose. A new mechanical workshop for the service is also being constructed at Bohye, near Haatso,” the president said.
He also noted that in addition to yearly increments in salary for all police personnel, the government has placed them, like the other members of the security services, under the CAP30 pension scheme.
“Clearance has been given for the police service to recruit some 5,000 more personnel to augment the manpower base of the service, in a bid to meet the recommended UN police-civilian ratio of 1:500. Prior to this, a total of 4,000 persons were recruited into the police service from 2018 to 2020,” President Akufo-Addo said.
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