A Deputy Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Richard Quayson, has called on police personnel to discharge their duties within the ambit of the Constitution to avoid violating the rights of the citizenry.
Addressing police officers in Tamale during a five-day seminar on human rights, Mr Quayson noted that since the police were the foremost entity tasked to protect the rights of Ghanaians they were enjoined to work within the confines of the law.
He said the police should live above reproach and safeguard the rights of all Ghanaians irrespective of their political or religious affiliation.
"You must also protect the less privileged and the vulnerable in the society," he said.
The Northern Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr Angwubutoge Awuni, urged the police officers to practise whatever they were taught at the seminar.
He commended the CHRAJ and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for organising the course, which, he said, would ultimately sharpen the skills of participants on human rights issues.
The Programme Officer in charge of Access of the UNDP, Ms Hilda Mensah, said the police administration needed to adapt to changing trends in policing and protect the fundamental human rights of the people.
She observed that arbitrary actions by some police officers in respect of arrests and detention for minor offences should be critically looked at.
Ms Mensah further hinted that the government intended to correct the sentence regime in order to prevent congestion in the prisons.
"Some of these penal code reforms include community service and parole," she added.
Police inspectors from the Northern, Upper East and West regions attended the seminar, which was aimed at sharpening the skills of the participants on human rights issues to enable them to discharge their duties effectively.
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