Public donations may compromise police – Analyst warns

A Security Analyst, Emmanuel Sowatey, has said it will be counterproductive for Ghana Police to seek logistical support from the public.

He was speaking to Citi News after the Police Commander for the Tesano Police in Accra, Chief Superintendent Oduro Amenin, requested that the public support the police service procure the needed vehicles to aid police.

“For the Police Service and administration in general, they are doing their best to equip us. Meanwhile, the general public is also advised; those that can help us to get more [vehicles] so that every corner within the country or the jurisdiction or within the region, you will see a policeman with a motorbike or a vehicle within the area, so even our presence alone will deter the criminals,” Supt. Amenin appealed.

There have been some robbery attacks nationwide, with the police partly blaming their inability to fight crime on inadequate logistics.

But Emmanuel Sowatey believes this may not be the best approach.

“In the short term, it may be lovely to receive different forms of assistance from individuals and corporate bodies. But in the long term, it may be counterproductive,” he cautioned.

Though he said some beneficiaries of such support might continue to remain professional, “it undermines, to some extent, that level of trust and perception that individuals would have,” Mr Sowatey said.

“If Mr X gave those resources to the police and Mr X has a problem with Mr. Y, the fact that Mr Y knows that Mr X provided the Police with certain logistics, in the mind of Mr Y, the police will tilt to the side of the party because the other party provided the certain police logistics,” he illustrated.

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