Training for community police assistants begins

A five-week training for community police assistants has started in Accra and Kumasi. The trainees were recruited under the security module of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) to assist personnel of the Ghana Police Service in checking criminal activities and maintaining law and order in the communities.

At the National Police Training School in Accra, 550 people would be trained for the Greater Accra and Western regions, while 836 drawn from the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions are being trained at the Police Training School in Kumasi.

During the five-week period, the trainees would be taken through physical drills, criminal laws, criminal procedures and basic police tips among other topics.

Accra opening

At the opening of the 2016 community police assistants training programme in Accra last Friday, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Afotey Agbo, said the community policing assistants programme was an important social intervention that sought to alleviate poverty.

He said it was also one of the measures which the government had put in place to address the challenge of youth unemployment in the country.

In addition to exhibiting a high sense of professionalism, Nii Afotey Agbo cautioned the trainees against using their acquired skills as a means of extorting money from people who might violate the law.

Security in the community

The Greater Accra Regional Director of YEA, Employment Agency, Mr Solomon Nii Afutu Quartey, said the programme was to help provide security at the grass-roots level in all communities.

For his part, the acting Commanding Officer of the National Police Training School, Mr Seth K. Kukubor, said the trainees, who would be working mainly as traffic control officers, would also be taken through traffic control and traffic rules.

Kumasi

In Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr John Alexander Ackon, said the module was meant to put the right security measures in place to promote investments and increase employment opportunities for the youth.

He explained that the Community Protection Assistance module, therefore, provided a very good and refreshing alternative in the overall goal of providing protection and security for the people.

He cautioned the trainees that their performances would be closely monitored by their superior officers.

“We shall not entertain any misconduct from you that could ridicule the programme and bring the name of the government into disrepute,” the minister said.

The Deputy Ashanti Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police Mr Osei Kwaku Ampofo-Duku, urged the trainees to be disciplined and submissive to the authorities and adhere to the code of ethics that would be made available to them.