The Volta Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Bernard Guyiri Dery, has cautioned personnel of the service to desist from acts that may give cause for Ghanaians to blame the police for failing in their constitutional duty of protecting the electoral process.
According to him, any professional misconduct on the part of a police officer on election day would serve to portray the police in a bad light and give cause for people to point accusing fingers at the service.
He, therefore, warned of punitive action against police personnel found to be engaging in unprofessional conduct with the tendency of undermining the electoral process.
Speaking at a day's joint police and military pre-election study day code-named, "Exercise Peace Angel", in Ho yesterday, DCOP Dery charged the police not to “become a problem for people to manage at the polling stations".
The meeting brought together senior officers from all the security agencies to brainstorm on key challenges that might come up on election day with the view to working out appropriate methods to handle those situations.
In addition to that, there will be a mock exercise on Sunday, November 16, 2008, during which actual scenarios will be simulated with the appropriate response from the security agencies as a dress rehearsal towards election day.
DCOP Dery said the police were poised to ensure that the electoral process in the Volta Region would be devoid of any incidents that would mar the beauty of Ghana's democracy in order to produce results that would be accepted by all as the true outcome of the elections.
He also made a passionate appeal to the media to exercise the highest level of circumspection on that day, since irresponsible reportage had the potential of creating chaos and needless anxiety.
The Volta Regional Director of the Electoral Commission, Madam Laurentia Kpatakpa, reminded the security agencies that they were statutorily banned from getting involved in the actual administration of elections and that their role was restricted to providing security for the process.
She urged them to use minimum force only when necessary and cautioned against accepting gifts that could compromise their impartial role in the success of the elections.
The Volta Regional Security Co-ordinator, Major Edward Aphour (retd), said the challenges that confronted the security agencies in the discharge of their duties on election day were not insurmountable with adequate preparation and total commitment to duty.
He also called on the media to cross-check their facts before putting them in the public domain.
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