The Deputy Director of the Transformation Program Office of the Ghana Police Service DSP Henry Ayisi has raised concerns over the quality of some police personnel recruited into the Ghana Police Service.

He said political interference in the recruitment process is hurting the quality of personnel recruited into the service.

DSP Ayisi raised these concerns at a training workshop for the police organised by the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) in partnership with the Ghana Police Service (GPS).

The Programme seeks to engage and discuss challenges facing the police service and the way forward with the transformational agenda set by the service.

If at all they want to provide jobs for their supporters, DSP Ayisi does not understand why the choice of the politicians will be the school drop outs.

He questioned if the police service is not deserving of high quality personnel as demanded in other organisations.

“When you talk of organisation, I know most of you are coming from places like Joy FM, you only look for the quality people to work. Don’t we also deserve the best?” DSP Ayisi queried.

The Deputy Director added that it is so sad that some do not even know how to write their names and would need to thumb print when they go to the bank.

“It is so sad to find men and women today who cannot read and write who have to go to the bank and thumb print. Oh my God! why should it happen to us and the underpinning factor is politics” he lamented.

DSP Ayisi added that sometimes they have some District Chief Executives ordering the police to free people they had arrested.

He said some personnel are handpicked and promoted over others, a situation he said is affecting the quality of performance. 

He also raised concerns about the billions of cedis being paid for accommodation for its personnel when they could have worked out something to have their own police housing scheme.

He said the service is currently in talks with some private persons to begin a housing programme for its personnel.

DSP Ayisi said the ratio of ammunition to its men stands at five to one. He added that the police service had to borrow ammunitions from the military in the last elections for its men to perform their duty.

He also raised issues of transport that is affecting the police service. He said whilst armed robbers are using V8 and Tundra to rob, the police will need to chase them with a Mahindra vehicle and in some case no vehicle at all.

The Executive Assistant to the Inspector General of Police DSP Peter Toobu on his part said policing in the 21st century cannot be the same as post-independence and applauded the initiative taken by the IGP to transform the police service.

He said for the transformation agenda to succeed, there is the need to get the personnel buy into the idea.

DSP Toobu said the aim of the workshop is to ensure the service becomes number one in Africa and among the first ten in the world.

He said though it is a challenge, they believe it can be done.

‘The encouraging aspect is that when we go out of this country into the United Nations or any peace keeping assignment we are the best. So if we are the best out there why can we not come back home and be the best here?’  DSP Toobu asked.