Republic of Ghana

National ICT Policy and Plan Development Committee



The National ICT4AD Consultative Pocess

Dialogue Meeting with the Ghana Police Service

The National ICT Policy and Plan Development Committee met with the High Command of the Ghana Police Service on Wednesday, 13th November 2002 as part of the pre-framework National Consultative Process. The Committee viewed the Ghana Police Service as an important stakeholder for the ICT process.

A key conclusion of the meeting is that: the Police Service would need ICTs to support their activities and operations and the computerization of the entire Police Service will enable them play their role in fighting crime, maintaining law and order and address other national security issues and concerns.

The Committee intends to meet again with the Police Service as part of an ongoing dialogue with the Service to address within the Policy and Plan issues relating to ICTs and National Security.

List of Participants

P. K. Acheampong	Dep. IGP Operations
Kwasi Nkansa	COP/Admin
F. Adu Anim	DSP/ASO
Nana B. Abban	Police Consultant
Mohammed Alhassan	DCOP/Operations
Paul Quaye	COP/Research & Planning

Some Highlights of the Issues Raised

• Need to establish a comprehensive Personnel Information system in the Police Service.
• Need to link all the regional capitals by way of a Wide Area Network (WAN) to facilitate information exchange between them and with the headquarters on daily basis to support operational activities of the Ghana Police Service
• Plans to set up a National Criminal Intelligence Analysis and Communication Center to serve as a single unit to provide information on criminal records
• ICTs could be used to enhance communications between patrol units to reduce delays and improve operational efficiency of the field units
• Revenue-Generation is an area in which ICTs could be used to assist the Police Service; this will however required a change in Legislation. ICT could also be used to facilitate administrative and operational cost reduction within the Police Service.
• A suggestion was made to set-up and operates a “Police Telecom System”. This could be introduced to cut down on communications costs of the Police Service and ensure operational security. An independent telecom system managed and run by the police service could also facilitate improvements in service delivery.
• The introduction of broadband wireless technology to support some of the activities of the Police Service will also need to be considered.

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