Through our project “Leveraging the Power of Data and Digital Tools to Stop Human Rights Abuse: iWatch Africa, Police and CHRAJ Collaboration,” iWatch Africa held a month-long town hall awareness meeting with motorists, commuters and the police. During the public engagement forums and review of the current PIPS structure, we found that over the years, several factors have coalesced to weaken the police oversight system thereby inhibiting the Police Service’s ability to effectively deal with complaints from the public concerning police misconduct and corruption.

The lapses identified include but not limited to; weak independence and transparency, obsolete operational and complaint system as well as financial constraints. These constraints, unfortunately, have impaired the quality of work of PIPS resulting in plummeted public trust and confidence in the Service’s ability to deal with police misconducts.

In 2017, ARAP, through its report titled, “Improving Professional Standards in the Ghana Police Service” came to a similar conclusion about PIPS. In particular, the report opined that “the mandate given to PIPS in 2005 has become obsolete, insofar as it refers to functions that the agency has never performed.”

iWatch Africa agrees with this findings and holds the position that PIPS’ mandate as defined by the Standing Order No 5 (2005) fall short of the international benchmark set by United Nations for independence, transparency and accountability needed in investigating complaints against police officers.

Moreover, the challenges of PIPS require fixing, given the impact the unit can have on police discipline in the country. iWatch holds that addressing the PIPS challenges mustn’t be ephemeral so as to minimise reform blips. However, from our thorough examination of the challenges confronting the current PIPS oversight model, iWatch Africa believes that altering the existing structure to meet the UN criteria of best practices would be herculean task after a decade of inefficiency and ineffectiveness.

iWatch Africa, therefore, proposes a Hybrid system that brings on board citizens on all matters relating to investigation and prosecution of police misconduct. The singular action, we think, would help restore rectitude of the service and public confidence in the ability and willingness of the police to deal with police misconducts. The “Police Citizen” approach offers the best value for money.

Hybrid Model – “Police Citizen” approach

The Hybrid Model (Civilian-Police) of police oversight utilises the expert and impartial knowledge of Citizens in investigating any police misconduct. The blend of Police and Citizen is expected to increase accountability, transparency and improve public confidence in the Service.  Ultimately, we hope that such an approach would enhance the integrity of Police Officers and policing in Ghana.  It’s also expected to bring visibility to how police deal with complaints about policing (receipt, investigation and follow-up).

The Police Service is a vital institution with responsibility under law to maintain public order and safety of persons and properties. In performing these duties, the interaction between the police and citizenry is a constant occurrence. Through our routine surveys, many of our constituents have alleged police corruption of one form or the other. Also, several CSOs have come to similar conclusions on alleged police corruption and abuse of power. This, we belief impugn the integrity of the police service, which is a threat to the rule of law and undermines Ghana’s democracy.

For instance, eighty percent of Ghanaians surveyed by Afrobarometer in 2017 had a negative perception of the police regarding abuse of power and corruption. Surveys published by the Ghana Integrity Initiative in 2017 cited the Police Service as the most corrupt institution in Ghana.

Enhancing police accountability and integrity is primarily meant to establish, restore or enhance public trust and (re-)build the legitimacy that is a prerequisite for effective policing in Ghana.

iWatch Africa, after a careful review of several police oversight institutions around the world, offers a distilled range of recommendations to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Security to lead the needed reforms in the police service.

We recommend that the core characteristic of our proposed Hybrid-Model should be ‘Independence.’ We suggest the following guidelines modelled after the United Nations Handbook on Police Accountability, Oversight and integrity.

Criteria for independence:

• Complete discretion in the exercise of functions or powers
• Statutory underpinning
• Reporting to the parliament
• Independent funding
• Transparent processes, based on merit, for the appointment of commissioners and staff, strict procedures for removal and fixed period in office.

The newly proposed model must be unambiguous in its mandate. As a minimum, the independent oversight body must do the following:

• Have the capacity to receive complaints directly from the public (as well as from members of the government)
• Record all complaints filed against police (whether submitted at the police station, police headquarters, prosecutor’s office or directly to the independent body)
• Have the capacity to start an investigation on its own initiative and prosecutorial powers.
• Have sufficient investigative powers to assess the case in hand, including:
• The power to hear any person and subpoena powers
• The power to obtain any information required, including the authority to access police dockets and to conduct searches and seizures
• The power to compel the presence of witnesses including the police
• The power to prosecute
• The capacity to offer witness protection
• Have the power to recommend further penal or disciplinary action
• Have the capacity to make recommendations for structural change, hence enabling the police to prevent the recurrence of misconduct
• Have the capacity to follow up on its recommendations.
• To publish its findings and recommendations, including the response received from the police bi-annually.
• To compel the police to disclose the reasons for not following up on the recommendations.
• To make public failure by the police to follow up on its recommendations.

Establishing an independent oversight structure must not be the last step. The structure must be monitored for both the quality of its service delivery and its impact on police performance so that it can identify problems and their causes and try to improve its performance. Effective police accountability involves many different actors representing the different layers of modern-day democracies, including government representatives, the parliament, the judiciary, civil society actors and independent oversight bodies such as CHRAJ. We must all play an active role to improve governance and promote police accountability in Ghana.

By Gideon Sarpong, & co-authored by Henry Kyeremeh | iWatch Africa

References:

Police Assessment Resource Center. Review of National Police Oversight Models for the Eugene Police Commission. Los Angeles: PARC, February, 2005.

Understanding Policing: A Resource for Human Rights Activists. Amsterdam: Amnesty International Nederland, 2006.

Handbook on police accountability, oversight and integrity: Criminal Justice Series. Vienna: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Austria, 2011.

A Report on the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Unit: Accountability. Accra: Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Program (ARAP) Ghana, 2017.

The post iWatch Africa calls for an overhaul of PIPS of the Ghana Police Service: Proposes ‘Police-Citizen’ approach to dealing with police misconduct appeared first on iWatch Africa.

One of such intervention is the “Together Against Corruption” (TAC) project which is building citizens awareness on police corruption and also supporting the police administration to be more responsive to corruption allegation against their fellow police officers. The TAC is a two-year project and is implemented by Socioserve-Ghana, JMK and iWatch Africa with support from Star Ghana Foundation and is being implemented in five districts of Upper Manya Krobo/Assesewa District, Akwapim North/Akropong District and Yilo Krobo/Somanya District. The rests are Ho West/Peki District and Anyawiase District and North Tongo/Aveyime District.

The funding support for the project comes from the European Union (EU), Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), United Kingdom Aid (UKaid) under the Department for International Development (DFID). Since the inception of the project, a series of engagements between the police, citizens of the project catchment area and the project facilitators to ensure the objectives of the project are realised have been carried out. These objectives included; providing expert education on rights and responsibilities of citizens and the police alike, build the capacity of police officers on anti-corruption measures, nudging police and citizens to take reporting of corruption case seriously, and also encourage frequent engagements between police and citizens to foster convivial relations in the project catchment areas.

The project has also conducted several surveys and studies. The findings have been staggering. For instance, between January to April 2019, the project conducted a study dubbed “Monitoring Acts of Corruption on Roads” in Akwapim North, Upper Manya, Yilo Krobo, Ho West and North Tongu. The study was to ascertain why drivers offer monies to police when they are stopped on the road. The findings were in three main categories. Majority of the respondents circa 82% indicated they pay bribes to the police to avoid wasting time on the road.

The next reason is quite fascinating. Many of the drivers (10%) also alluded to the need to build a good relationship with the police as the reason why they pay money to the police when they get stopped on the road. This reason finds roots in the sociology of the Ghanaian where the sense of “community and belonging” overshadows legal regimes and standard protocols of governance at different strata of society. The next reason was that many of the drivers feared that if they do not pay a bribe, they will be processed for the court.

The main course for which drivers get stopped, according to the study is overloading and open boots. The drivers also held that bribe-taking on the roads for the reporting period reduced slightly. They paid bribes ranging between GHC2.00 to GHC200.00. Surprisingly, the drivers were not ready to change the behaviours, which result in them getting stopped by the police. Perhaps, the intransigence of the drivers is fueled by the polices’ non-refusal of bribes when offered them.

What has been nifty and bliss-point of the project is the community engagements. The project has organised several of such engagements. Through this meeting, the project has brought the communities closer to the police. They have understood the standard operations of the police and also become more aware of their responsibilities in their communities in the fight against corruption. The police, on the other hand, have also appreciated the dynamics of the societies they operate in, and that has positively impacted their approach to the conduct of their duties. In such engagements, the frankness in views expressed by the stakeholder has helped ease the wrong perception each held about the other.

The principal of citizens abiding by the laws of Ghana has resonated in all the community fora, and the assurances from the community leaders in this direction are refreshing. Through such engagements, the communities have also been empowered to report police officers to their superiors anytime the individual feels his/her rights have been violated. Reporting modes, including police hotlines, have been provided to the communities. Importantly, the communities have been made aware of the support independent governance institutions like CHRAJ and NCCE can provide them in confronting the police anytime their rights are trampled upon.

The TAC project is changing perceptions and helping to restore confidence in Ghana police service. These commendable feet, the project anticipates, will not be ephemeral. The often trumped-up stories against police, the project expect will reduce to nadir levels by close of the project. Moreover, the police will no longer be seen as the most corrupt in the country when the gains made under the project are sustained. The project expects that citizen-police engagements be instituted by the police hierarchy to fortify and deepen trust among communities and the police.

By Henry Kyeremeh | iWatch Africa

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Design credit: iwatchafrica.org

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‘Together against Corruption’ is a 2-year project which seeks to build citizens’ capacity to fight corruption in their engagements with the police as well as increase the responsiveness of the police administration to cases of corruption involving police Officers.

The ‘TAC’ launch was attended by representatives from the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Integrity Initiative, Star-Ghana and the media.

Yahya Ahmed Nkrumah, the Project Officer of JMK Consulting also unveiled a baseline study on the perception of police corruption as part of the launch.

Key areas of the TAC project include:

1.Handling of cases reported by citizens at police stations/ charge office and how shiftily and transparently these cases are handled.

2.Enforcement of traffic regulations on the road to ensure that motorists are not offering bribes to Police Officers and also Officers are not extorting of monies from Motorists.

Read Also: iWatch Africa, Socioserve-Ghana & JMK hold strategic workshop towards launch of ‘Together Against Corruption’ Project

The project target regions include;

—Five Districts

–Upper Manya Krobo/ Assesewa District

–Akwapim North/ Akropong District

–Yilo Krobo/ Somanya District

–Ho West/ Peki District and Anyawiase District

–North Tongu/ Aveyime District

‘Together against Corruption’ is supported by STAR-Ghana with funding from UKaid, DANIDA and EUROPEAN UNION.

Report by iWatch Africa

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