As part of its efforts to enhance transparency in its administration, the Ghana Police Service has resolved to deploy body cameras to its officers across the country.
Police body cameras are small-lensed devices, worn on an officer's chest to capture images.
They are equipped with microphones and internal storage to record and store footages.
The Director-General in charge of Services, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), Mr Alex Amponsah-Asiamah, said the Police Administration would take delivery of about 3,000 pieces of the device by the close of the year.
He said the service has already received its first batch of 250 body cameras of the expected 3000 cameras amongst other equipment.
This formed part of the GH¢800-million retooling budget for the Ghana Police Service, which was announced in Parliament by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his State of the Nation Address in February 2018.
DCOP Amponsah-Asiamah said the personnel would be trained on the use of the cameras in their day-to-day fieldwork before their assignment.
He warned that there would be repercussions for officers who would not have video recording of an incident while in the field.
He said it would be in the interest of the police officers to make sure their cameras were functioning and operational when on the field.
Taking delivery of the equipment, the former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr David Asante-Apeatu, said the use of the gadgets would go a long way to help the police in their daily duties.
He reiterated that it would curb issues of misconduct by personnel that would otherwise have taken supervisors to discover.
He added a caution that “…if you return from the field and cannot produce a report from your operation from the body camera, you will have to answer.”
By Mercy Obeng-Dapaah
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