The Member of Parliament for Wa West Peter Lanchene Toobu has called for a drastic reformation of the Ghana Police Service.

On Tuesday, March 8, 2022, the Police Service announced that four police personnel were arrested at Borteyman near Ashaiman in connection with an ongoing intelligence-led police investigation into some bullion van robberies.

The announcement has received several mixed reactions from Ghanaians, criticizing the service.

One of such persons is the Member of Parliament for Wa West, Peter Lanchene Toobu.

He says there is a need for a drastic reformation of the Ghana Police Service.

The MP who is also a former Superintendent of police says the seeming fallen standards in the service are to blame for police personnel engaging in heinous activities.

Speaking on The Big Issue on Citi TV, the MP says this situation is derailing the country of its safety and tarnishing the positive image of the service hence the need for far-reaching reforms in the service.

“I think that professionalism in the police service has become a challenge. It’s time we need to have some new curriculum. So I’m looking at reforms that will enhance police accountability, reforms that will enhance police transparency and also reforms that would demilitarize the police. If we’re able to do that, I think that we have a very professional police organization that is responsive to the needs of the Ghanaian people.”

“There’s a fact that in every institution we have bad nuts and the fact that you find bad not in the police doesn’t mean that the service is bad. What it means that the service is challenged to pick those bad nuts and kick them out so that we can have a refined police organization with time”.

On the other hand, security analyst Emmanuel Kotin has called on politicians to desist from interfering in the recruitment process in the service.

He says politicizing the service retards its professionalism.

“I’m calling on the political parties too as a matter of agency to look at their recruitment regime and the influences they play in the selection. You see, when you do protocol recruitment, you will agree with me that most of the bottlenecks one must go through are removed. Some people don’t even go for the screening and medicals. And because it’s coming from a big man, it is assumed that the person is of good moral character. And that’s why more often than not, we have these challenges.”

Franklin Cudjoe, the President of IMANI Ghana, called on the leadership of the police service to bring finality to the matter since there might be an insider perpetrating such acts.

“I am beginning to think that this whole thing has an insider. I think the police hierarchy must get to the bottom of it. It is plausible that these guys were obviously gunned down because they probably need too much, and they were going to implicate a few other police officers. It may be a wild goose chase, but I think we should look into that direction”.