Members of the public have called on the police administration to take a step further by using its media platform, the GH Police TV to educate the citizenry of their basic fundamental human rights when arrested, and not limit its scope to road safety education alone.
In a random interview conducted by Ghananews247.com with the public of their impression about the newly established GH Police TV which is the first of its kind in the history of the police administration, majority were of the view that the television station is placing too much emphasis on road safety education, leaving other aspects such as the education of the rights of the citizenry unattended to.
According to the public, some police personnel capitalize on the ignorance of some members of the public to abuse their rights, often denying them this rights, and in the process extorting monies from them.
Ghananews247.com can recounts recent incident at the District Police Headquarters in Agona Swedru in the Central Region where a CID personnel handling a case involving the sale of cannabis demanded GH 20,000.00 Cedis from the suspect before he would grant him bail, threatening to send him to Court if he fails to pay the money, and another instance where investigating officer in a case involving double sale of land also demanded GH 500.00 Cedis before granting him bail. The irony of the matter is that any person who visits the station is asked to drop his or her phone at the counter desk before entering, a situation which the public say should be applied to suspects but not visitors.
This situation of extortion of monies by the police, according to the public, pertains in every police station across the country, seem to have turned the Police Service into a judiciary where suspects are pronounced guilty before sent to the law Court. Though they welcomed the establishment of the GH Police TV as a good move, they however urged the police administration to take a step further from only road education to the education of the rights of the citizenry during arrest.
By: Robert Ayanful.