Information gathered indicates that, the Ghana Police Service has employed civilian photographer to take over the clearance section of the service where criminal background check of people who want to be employed in an organization or people traveling outside the country that need police clearance.
This paper has gathered that, prior to this arrangement, the clearance section was at the CID headquarters of the Ghana Police Service.
However, upon assumption of office of the new CID Boss, she moved that section to the premises of Police Intelligent Professional Standard Bureau in Nima.
Police Clearance section does the criminal background check for visa applicants and for immigration purposes for non-residents. It is a background check for job applicants and it is done at the CID headquarters to check whether a document issued is genuine.
It has also been established that the police clearance section was being handled by professional photographer recruited into the Ghana police Service.
The handing over of the section to a civilian photographer is being condemned by some police personnel who saw the action as harmful to effective conduct of the police service, which can compromise the security of the state.
Speaking to some officers, they believe that the development is a large-scale conspiracy against the stability of the country, and that it is a bad indication that the Ghana Police Service hands over the clearance section to a civilian photographer to handle.
“The plan lacked safeguard and compliance mechanisms,” an officer said on anonymity.
They also averred that the CID Boss has succeeded in this goal by sowing chaos, and instability in the country as her action is defeating because it weakened the strength of the police service, the integrity and credibility of the profession.
“What is happening today does not come to the compliance of police rules and regulations to have engaged the civilian photographer to check criminal background of persons. This is wrong. Police service doesn’t work the way we expect them to perform anymore. We urge the Ghana Police Service for that matter the IGP, to restrain this action and restore the sections back to its original unit,” the aggrieved officers appealed.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Police Service has decentralised criminal clearance services across the country.
The service was previously available exclusively at the CID Headquarters in Accra, but persons seeking criminal clearance can now do so in any of the 25 Police regions across the country.