The Inspector-General of Police, James Oppong-Boanuh, says civilians are to blame for policemen accepting bribes.
He said the willingness of members of the public to offer bribes to police officers is responsible for the unethical conduct of his men and women.
Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen, the IGP said drivers break the law and offer bribes to avoid prosecution.
This, he says entice the policemen.
He insists that if offenders stopped offering bribes, policemen would not be inclined to either request or accept bribes
“If we all decide not to pay bribes and agree to go to court, no police officer can force his hand into your pocket,” he said,
The IGP also announced special toll-free numbers including 191 or 18555 to serve as a platform for individuals to send videos, pictures or any form of evidence, showing police misconduct.
Mr Oppong-Boanuh added that police officers found guilty of engaging in unscrupulous behaviour by virtue of any message sent to the announced numbers will be dealt with expeditiously.
The police administration has in the recent past punished some of its men on the road for accepting or demanding bribes.
In May 2019, a police officer in the Central Region was caught on video allegedly negotiating for payment and receiving bribe from ‘associates’ of a criminal suspect to make foolish, a narcotic and cybercrime case he was handling.
General Sergeant Augustine Owusu Ansah of the Assin Fosu Police Division has since been arrested and detained by the Central Regional Police CID following the leaking of the video which went viral.
A statement issued by the Police in the region Tuesday said the act of the officer “amounts to corruption”.
In the past, poor remunerations was blamed for corruption in the police service.
However, salaries for police officers went up when the single spine salary structure was implemented by the Mills administration in 2010.
The Police praised the move saying it will boost morale, improve discipline and professionalism.
Police salary vs bribes
Interestingly, however, rather than reducing police corruption, research funded by the International Growth Centre finds that raising police salaries actually increases levels of police bribery on Ghanaian roads.
As part of an ambitious policy reform experiment in 2010, Ghana doubled police salaries, in part, to reduce petty corruption on its highways.
However, after analysing the amount of bribes paid during more than 2100 long-haul truck trips on a road between Ghana and Burkina Faso between 2006 and 2014, IGC-funded researchers find that police officers actually demanded larger bribes after the salary increase, despite allowing more trucks to pass without taking bribes.
The value of bribes paid at each police checkpoint increased by over 25 per cent.
Overall, the amounts of bribes paid on the road increased by 23 per cent due to the salary increase.
Commenting on the research, a University of Wisconsin-Madison, Jeremy Foltz, said “the finding suggested that the fight against corruption in Ghana cannot be won by salary increase alone. We need to take a closer look at Ghana’s anti-corruption laws and their enforcement.”
