AN ASSESSMENT OF THE OPERATIONS OF POLICE OFFICERS IN GHANA: A CASE STUDY OF POLICE OFFICERS AT THE CANTONMENTS POLICE STATION

Abstract The Police Service is an institution which is long over due for rebranding and should be transformed to restore a better public image; this is as a result of the negative reports that have been highlighted in relation to the service. This study assesses the operations of the Ghana Police Service using Cantonments Police Station as a case study. From the study it was concluded that very few Police Officers had educated themselves to the tertiary level leaving majority of them at the Middle school level and Senior High School Level. Other findings include some of the hindrances to operations, of Police Officers. They include non-availability of vehicles which makes mobility very difficult, lack of logistics, poor infrastructure and lack of modern equipments, discrimination, lack of motivation and poor incentives, lack of manpower and limited accommodation. Good supervision, cooperation from the public and logistics were identified as factors that helped to promote their duties efficiently. Most of the failures of the police officers were their inability to apprehend and arrest some notorious criminals. Other failures were their inability to show quick response to calls from the public. Some of the recommendations that were made were to provide training for Police Officers as a result of the poor educational background. The organisational structure of the firm should be decentralised to provide Police officers decision making power, this is because most of operations under the Cantonments Police Station is centralized, which results in Police top officials exercising most of the direct control over every organizational component. Low level officers in Cantonments Police Station should also be given the decision making power to motivate them to work harder toward predefined performance standards set inside a logical framework.