Ghanaians blast IGP for suggesting 'first degree' as minimum requirement for police recruitment

Ghanaians blast IGP for suggesting 'first degree' as minimum requirement for police recruitment

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante-Apeatu, has come under fire for his recent suggestion that the minimum requirement for entry into the police service should be upgraded to a first-degree level.

According to the IGP, recruiting better-educated officers will help weed out “bad apples” in the service and also deal with their current challenges.

Initially, the minimum requirement to enter the Police service used to be a good Junior High School (JHS) Basic Education Certificate. However, it has been reviewed, with recruits now required to have good grades in the WASSCE.

Despite this change in mode of recruitment, the police service has come under heavy criticism for the misconduct of some officers.

Ghanaians blast IGP for suggesting 'first degree' as minimum requirement for police recruitment
Mr David Asante-Apeatu (Photo credit: Supplied)

But in an interview with Accra-based Joy FM, Mr Asante-Apeatu stated: “First of all, in our transformational agenda, we have listed certain things that we have to revamp. Training and retraining of our officers who are constantly on the job. “We must also fire the bad apples because they are dangerous. Imagine that we had four-year degree holders only in the Ghana Police Service (GPS), won’t the Service change? It will definitely make a big change in the GPS.”

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He hinted that discussions were ongoing to raise the bar to first degree holders, adding that “it will be proper for us to keep on raising the bar higher”.

The IGP’s comments followed a series of unprofessional conducts by police officers including armed robbery and assault on civilians.

It was in reaction to the recent viral video of a police officer physically assaulting a with a child at a Midlands Savings and Loans branch at Shiashie.

While the IGP's statement may have come out from his experience as a top police officer, a section of Ghanaians have disagreed with him.

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For many social media users, a first degree requirement was not going to curb the problems of unprofessional conduct in the service.

Boakye did not see how a 'first degree' was going to stop officers from sleeping on the job a taking money from commercial drivers:

Abdul said the IGP does not deserve his position for this statement:

Mac also thought the IGP is not qualified:

Maalegu pointed out that the problems were due to favouritism and educational qualification of officers.

Emmanuel held a similar view:

Ombey came with funny twist to the saga asking whether the IGP himself had a first degree:

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