Ghana Immigration Officers Undertake Training in Community Policing

Aflao: About 150 officers of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) of the Aflao Sector Command are attending a three-week capacity-building workshop to help sharpen their skills on modern trends of policing. Dubbed Community Engagement and Policing (CEP) model, it will equip the participants with skills to address issues of mistrust between personnel of the Service and border residents.According to Ghana News Agency, the initiative will also enhance communication between the Aflao Sector and stakeholders, aimed at building a mutually beneficial collaborative relationship between officers and border community members. The training workshop is in line with the Public Affairs and Community Engagement (PACE) Strategy of the Public Affairs Department of the GIS and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16. It is being sponsored by the International Centre for Safe Migration (ICSM), under the Frontline Capacity Project, with support from the UN-African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP).Mr. P eter Assanful, the Head of Projects at ICSM, at the opening ceremony of the workshop underscored the urgent need for the training on the CEP model, a security tool designed by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to strengthen the safety and security of communities and shift towards a people-centric, proactive, and preventative approach to policing. He mentioned the increasing tension between the Aflao youth and security agencies, particularly the GIS, citing the May 20, 2023, attack on a team of officers on patrol duties at 'Beat 6,' an unapproved border crossing point, in addition to other officer-civilian brutalities, to emphasize the need for the training.'When DSI Justice Kudzo Normeshie, Officer-in-Charge of Public Affairs and the CEP Focal Person at the GIS Aflao Sector Command called on the ICSM to partner the Service to deliver this training to the Officers, Centre, saw the urgent need to embrace the opportunity to train the officers to adopt the new approach of policing that respects the fundamental human rights of the people. He said this would also promote community participation in border security management, enhance cultural tolerance, religious sensitivity, and gender responsiveness to border security management.Mr. Assanful believed the training was crucial in making the GIS a model Service to contribute to National Security, while promoting the 'Global Compact on Safe, Orderly, and Proper Migration and the SDGs,' as well, helping to identify and mitigate migration risks at the Aflao Border. Assistant Commissioner of Immigration (ACI) Frederick Baah Duodu, the GIS Aflao Sector Commander, lauded the intervention to reorient the officers towards a more human-centered approach to security management in the discharge of their duties.He emphasized the significant place of community engagement in security management and noted that it played a crucial role in promoting peace before, during, and after the Election 2024 in the Ketu South Municipality. Some trainees who spoke with the Gha na News Agency said they would take the lessons seriously to derive the full benefits thereof, promising to effectively implement the skills acquired from the workshop in the discharge of their duties.