CHRI calls for independent civilian oversight body to police the police -in the face of recent police brutalities
The Commonwealth Human Right Initiative (CHRI) is calling for the establishment of an independent civilian oversight body to police the Police Service as a way of minimizing the impunity and misconduct of officers of the service.
This call comes at a time when the men and women of the Ghana Police Service have been making news headlines in the country for the wrong reasons, such as abetting crime and brutalizing the citizens who they are supposed to be protecting.
Miss Mina Mensah, Regional Coordinator for the CHRI believes that the establishment of the independent civilian oversight body to police the police will ensure that there is transparency and accountability, which will lead to all reports on investigations conducted into police misconducts being made public.
Recently, Krofuom, a town in the Ashanti region, was turned into turmoil after a young man in his early 20s was allegedly brutalized to death by the police. The deceased, Osei Tawiah, was said to have been returning from a public toilet when the police patrol team pursuing two criminals on a motorbike mistook him for one of the criminals. They subjected him to serious beatings until he became unconscious and later died.
According to eyewitnesses, not even a plea of innocence from residents and the young man’s foster mother could restrain the police from using their taser and gun butts on him. Angered by the gruesome murder, residents of Krofuom have been pouring onto the streets to protest the action of the police.
This is not the first time an unfortunate incidence such as this has happened. There have been many other occasions where the conduct of the police has been questionable.
It is because of unfortunate incidents like this and many others that led the Ghana Police Service to established the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau (PIPS) to help check the image of the police, since there are few bad nuts in the service who could drug the image of the service into disrepute.
According to Chief Inspector David Fianko Okyere, Police Public Relations Department, since the establishment of PIPS, there has been a change in the behavior of the police. PIPS is responsible for checking the police. They ensure the police are not misbehaving in any way. In other words, they police the police.
He said they take complains as and when they are reported about the police and check if the police acted contrary to the laws, pointing out that, “In a case where an officer goes contrary to the law, he or she is handed over to the right authority. Depending on the gravity of the offence, the authority decide on the suitable punishment be it suspension, dismissal or even arrangnment before the court”.
Most of these acts by the police are termed as police brutality. But what is brutality? Who measures it?
Speaking with Inspector Augustine Kingsley Oppong, Police Public Relations Department, he stated that any form of brutality is bad, noting that, “Using police power unduly is wrong”.
He argued that the police is allowed some form of minimal force to bring order and sanity whenever necessary. The force is used to achieve law and order.
But Ms Mensah, had a completely different perspective of the issue.
To her, a person who does not resist arrest does not deserve to be beaten and must not be subjected to any form of mistreatment; citing the case of the Let My Vote Count Alliance as an example.
She observed that when the demonstrators started running away because of the police teargas fired at them, it was evidence that they had somehow conceded defeat and therefore they did not deserve to be chased and beaten in gutters. Also the victim of the Krofuom incident was denied an opportunity to explain himself.
She criticized PIPS for not making its reports on their investigations into police abuses public. She disapproved of their lack of transparency and failure to account to the public. She emphasized that all investigations done were being kept in the bosom of the police themselves and that it is up to the discretion of the Inspector General of Police to release or withhold information.
Ms Mensah was of the opinion that the lack of transparency in the operations of PIPS is a fertile ground for the police service to let off the hook police officers found guilty of misconduct.
Citing an example to buttress her point, she gave an account of an incident where a police officer crashed into her vehicle. She pointed out that wanting the proper action to be taken, she sent the matter to PIPS to investigate and till date they have not gotten back to her.
She also gave another example where five boys were assaulted by the police at Odokor, a suburb of Accra. The police sent the matter to court to try and show some level of lawfulness. But till today PIPS has not come out with any official report about the incident though the court has acquitted and discharged the boys.
Ms Mensah also accused the police for not carrying out their duties well. She said that when people are arrested they are not given the reason for their arrest; also they are not given bail or access to a court within 48 hours as enshrined by law. This she attributed to the ignorance of some of the police officers and civilians.
CHRI has been helping victims of police brutality and has a high success rate in the cases they take which are mostly solved at the early stages.
Story by: Adwoa Yankson
This call comes at a time when the men and women of the Ghana Police Service have been making news headlines in the country for the wrong reasons, such as abetting crime and brutalizing the citizens who they are supposed to be protecting.
Miss Mina Mensah, Regional Coordinator for the CHRI believes that the establishment of the independent civilian oversight body to police the police will ensure that there is transparency and accountability, which will lead to all reports on investigations conducted into police misconducts being made public.
Recently, Krofuom, a town in the Ashanti region, was turned into turmoil after a young man in his early 20s was allegedly brutalized to death by the police. The deceased, Osei Tawiah, was said to have been returning from a public toilet when the police patrol team pursuing two criminals on a motorbike mistook him for one of the criminals. They subjected him to serious beatings until he became unconscious and later died.
According to eyewitnesses, not even a plea of innocence from residents and the young man’s foster mother could restrain the police from using their taser and gun butts on him. Angered by the gruesome murder, residents of Krofuom have been pouring onto the streets to protest the action of the police.
This is not the first time an unfortunate incidence such as this has happened. There have been many other occasions where the conduct of the police has been questionable.
It is because of unfortunate incidents like this and many others that led the Ghana Police Service to established the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau (PIPS) to help check the image of the police, since there are few bad nuts in the service who could drug the image of the service into disrepute.
According to Chief Inspector David Fianko Okyere, Police Public Relations Department, since the establishment of PIPS, there has been a change in the behavior of the police. PIPS is responsible for checking the police. They ensure the police are not misbehaving in any way. In other words, they police the police.
He said they take complains as and when they are reported about the police and check if the police acted contrary to the laws, pointing out that, “In a case where an officer goes contrary to the law, he or she is handed over to the right authority. Depending on the gravity of the offence, the authority decide on the suitable punishment be it suspension, dismissal or even arrangnment before the court”.
Most of these acts by the police are termed as police brutality. But what is brutality? Who measures it?
Speaking with Inspector Augustine Kingsley Oppong, Police Public Relations Department, he stated that any form of brutality is bad, noting that, “Using police power unduly is wrong”.
He argued that the police is allowed some form of minimal force to bring order and sanity whenever necessary. The force is used to achieve law and order.
But Ms Mensah, had a completely different perspective of the issue.
To her, a person who does not resist arrest does not deserve to be beaten and must not be subjected to any form of mistreatment; citing the case of the Let My Vote Count Alliance as an example.
She observed that when the demonstrators started running away because of the police teargas fired at them, it was evidence that they had somehow conceded defeat and therefore they did not deserve to be chased and beaten in gutters. Also the victim of the Krofuom incident was denied an opportunity to explain himself.
She criticized PIPS for not making its reports on their investigations into police abuses public. She disapproved of their lack of transparency and failure to account to the public. She emphasized that all investigations done were being kept in the bosom of the police themselves and that it is up to the discretion of the Inspector General of Police to release or withhold information.
Ms Mensah was of the opinion that the lack of transparency in the operations of PIPS is a fertile ground for the police service to let off the hook police officers found guilty of misconduct.
Citing an example to buttress her point, she gave an account of an incident where a police officer crashed into her vehicle. She pointed out that wanting the proper action to be taken, she sent the matter to PIPS to investigate and till date they have not gotten back to her.
She also gave another example where five boys were assaulted by the police at Odokor, a suburb of Accra. The police sent the matter to court to try and show some level of lawfulness. But till today PIPS has not come out with any official report about the incident though the court has acquitted and discharged the boys.
Ms Mensah also accused the police for not carrying out their duties well. She said that when people are arrested they are not given the reason for their arrest; also they are not given bail or access to a court within 48 hours as enshrined by law. This she attributed to the ignorance of some of the police officers and civilians.
CHRI has been helping victims of police brutality and has a high success rate in the cases they take which are mostly solved at the early stages.
Story by: Adwoa Yankson
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