Male
Police detectives have been warned not to conduct search in private
parts of female suspects in the course of their investigation.
As investigators, they must show strict decency and in structures where women are to be searched, it should be done by women.
The
Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department,
Commissioner of Police (COP) Prosper Kwame Agblor, who gave the warning
at the passing out ceremony of detectives in Accra on Friday, said it
was an offence for police personnel to indulge in the practice since
that violated the rights of the suspects.
Quoting section 8(3) of
the Criminal Procedure and Juvenile Justice Act, 1960 (Act 30), he said
‘the search shall be made with strict decency and where a woman is to
be searched, the search shall be made by another woman’.
Section 8
(4) of the Act, states that ‘the right to search a person arrested does
not include the right to search the private part’ and asked that those
provisions should guide detectives in the performance of their duties.
The
Director-General said it was important for every police officer for
that matter detectives, to remember that suspects or accused persons had
rights which had been enshrined in Article 14(3) (b) of the 1992
Constitution.
Similarly, COP Agblor said Article 15(2) of the
Constitution stipulated that ‘no person shall, whether or not arrested,
restricted or detained be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment’, saying any other condition that
detracts or likely to detract from that person’s dignity and worth as a
human being.
Police officers, he said, should therefore, ensure
that the rights of individuals they dealt with were not violated and
that every officer would be expected to exhibit professionalism in the
performance of their constitutionally mandated duties.
On
emerging crime that criminals have adopted in recent times, he said,
criminals called their friends or people they met on social media that
they had been arrested by the police while driving on the highway and
needed some money to part with the police and would require money as
modus operandi.
COP Agblor said while police officers were being
notified of the new modus operandi, the public should also be mindful of
the developing trend.
On intelligence policing, the Police
Commissioner said modern policing thrived on intelligence and that they
should cultivate informants to aid them in their work.
He said
though informants were needed to achieve their task, they should not
overly trust the informants because some of them might be double agents.
“Always
listen to what they have to tell you and do not let them know what you
know and also it is advisable that you do not abuse them by betraying
them,” he said and urged the public to cooperate with the police in
their quest to deal with organised crime.
The course prefect,
Inspector Joseph Kunsong, said the seven week refresher course had
equipped the participants with the necessary skills to effectively
perform their duties as investigators.
“In the course of
investigating crime, detectives usually face many challenges that affect
the effectiveness of the cases they handle and this is why we very much
welcome the scheme by the CID administration to train and retrain its
officers to equip them with modern investigative techniques and
procedures,” he said.
The participants, he said, were taken
through criminal investigation, criminal procedure, criminal law, law of
evidence, statement and report writing, human trafficking and crime
scene forensics.
They were also taken through domestic offence,
figure print and document fraud saying that course had been useful in
not only making them acquire new skills but also increased their
knowledge and sharpened their skills in the area of investigations.
Inspector Kunsong assured that they would put what they had studied into practice in the course of their work.
Two of the detectives, Daniel Narh Doku and Lydia Lamptey, were awarded for excelling throughout the course. |
| |
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment