Accra: A criminologist and lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr. Jones Opoku-Ware, has called on the Ghana Police Service to address its responsibilities with greater seriousness, criticizing its announcement of a manhunt for an Islamic cleric who was filmed assaulting a suspect in custody at police headquarters.
According to Ghana Web, Dr. Opoku-Ware views the incident as a significant indictment on the Police Service, one that severely undermines standard policing practices. He criticized the public statement declaring a manhunt as an insult to the intelligence of Ghanaians, given that the assault occurred under police oversight.
Dr. Opoku-Ware emphasized the troubling nature of the incident, pointing out that the victim was handcuffed and under police guard at the time of the attack. Speaking on Rainbow Radio, he expressed that the situation suggests internal facilitation, implying that someone in authority within the Police Service allowed the assault to happen.
He described the incident as an embarrassment for Ghana and the Ghana Police Service, stressing that policing requires integrity and protection of suspects, who are presumed innocent until proven guilty. He questioned how the assailants gained access to the suspect, assaulted him, and streamed the incident on social media, suggesting that the security of the police has been compromised.
Dr. Opoku-Ware further criticized the police for declaring a manhunt, asserting that the authorities know the perpetrator and can arrest him without needing public grandstanding. He dismissed the idea of giving the police the benefit of the doubt, arguing that streaming live from a secure facility renders any subsequent statements about a manhunt implausible.
He urged the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to conduct an urgent investigation and apply strict sanctions against any officer who may have allowed the assault to occur.