Police undergo training on organised crimes
A five-day training programme on drug surveillance and trailing for selected officers of the Drug Law Enforcement Unit (DLEU) of the Ghana Police Service has been held in Accra.
The programme is being funded by the French Government under its technical assistance project to support the fight against cocaine trafficking in West Africa.
The training would equip the officers with technical and practical knowledge using the geolocation systems and tracking tags technologies in the fight against drug trafficking and terrorism.
The programme, held on the theme, “Partnering to combat drug trafficking and organised crime”, would prepare officials of the DLEU for cross-border exercise to be held for Ghana-Togo anti-drug trafficking services.
Sophisticated crime
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Commissioner of Police (COP) Mr Proper Agblor, indicated that the complex and transnational nature of crimes such as drug trafficking and terrorism required sustained collaborative efforts and commitments of stakeholders across the globe to address.
“Crimes such as terrorism, weapon, drug and human trafficking, counterfeit food and medicines require detectives with good investigative skills to effectively deal with them efficiently,” COP Agblor said.
The department, Mr Agblor said, had as well developed a series of programme to ensure professional proficiency of detectives.
Forensic Science
The commissioner, however, expressed worry at the police administration’s inability to use forensic science in its operations due to financial constraints.
According to him, not only was that a key to the successful investigation and prosecution of criminal cases, but could establish the identity of documents in the event of fraudulent transactions.
He, therefore, called for support from development partners and stakeholder agencies to support the service run its forensic laboratory facility at full capacity.
Ambassador
The French Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Francois Pujolas, for his part, said the technical assistance from the French government formed part of his country’s quest to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the area of security between the two countries.
According to him, fighting organised crime is key to achieving stability within the West African sub-region.
He claimed that stability in the sub-region was necessary to combating organised crimes, since countries would be required to conduct joint operations to minimise incidents of drug trade and other organised crimes.