History Of The Origins And Development Of The Police In Ghana
There is some controversy as to when formal policing started in Ghana. Michael Teku argues that ‘[p] policing in the Gold Coast started in 1831 when Captain George MacLean formed a body of one hundred and twenty-nine men to maintain and enforce the provisions of the “Treaty of Peace” which he signed with the Coastal chiefs and the King of Ashanti’5.
Probably, the first real effort to document the history of the Police Force in Ghana was the work done by W. H. Gillespie.
6 While the essence of this work was not to over-elaborate on the specificity of the date for the establishment of the Ghana Police, there is an inclination to accept Teku’s arguments because of the multiple occurrences on the Gold Coast especially around the Cape Coast castle at this period.
Though Teku does not provide some of the key historical occurrences during this period, Gillespie’s dating from 1844 captures the famous Bond of 1844 drawn up between the Fante chiefs and MacLean prior to the Battle of Nsamankow.
As the force grew and expanded, other improvements were initiated.
9 Teku argues that some of these included the establishment of an Escort Unit, Railway Unit, Marine Police, and Criminal Investigations Department. Some of the new regulations enacted to enhance the work of the force and respond to the challenges that it faced were as follows:
• Police Regulations, 1922,
No. 7; • Police Reward Fund Regulations, 1922,
No. 8; • Transport and Private Property (Police Escort) Regulation, 1922,
No. 20; • Police Force (Volunteer Police Reserve) Regulations 1939,
No. 16; and the • Unclaimed property Disposal Regulations 1941,
No. 3710 While not discussing some of the issues that will be taken up later, it is imperative that any analysis of the development of the Ghana Police situates such processes within its proper context. Due to the increasingly sensitive materials being transmitted by the Service, a Wireless Division was established in 1949. The first such major effort dealing with such developmental processes was A Report Upon the Gold Coast Police known as the Young Report of 1951 which sought to advise the Gold Coast government on the organization, training, and methods of policing in the colony.
11 Young’s concerns dealt with several facets of the increasingly growing force among others training, equipment, and the prevention and detection of crime. Other key areas dealt with by the Report included the status of the Police and the formation of the Police Council. But most critically, Young sought the establishment of a Police Force that was truly independent of political and extraneous influences to the service.
12 7. Pokoo-Aikins, J. B. The Police in Ghana, 1939 – 1999. n.d (Accra, Ghana Police College) mimeograph 8. Ankama, S. K. Police History – Some Aspects in England and Ghana. (Essex, Silken, 1983),
p. 35. The interesting thing about this ordinance was the empowerment it gave the Governor to formulate regulations for the efficient running of the force.
9 . The most comprehensive historical account of Police Development in Ghana is Avuyi & Teku, op cit.
10. Teku, op cit, p. 2
11. See Young, A. E. Colonel. A Report Upon the Gold Coast Police. (Accra: Government Printer, 1951), paragraph 1. see also Pokoo-Aikins, op cit, p. 78, Teku, op cit, p. 2ff
12. This recommendation of AE Young will recur in several of the constitutional provisions of Ghana, including the 1992 constitution. 5 April 2006 – Journal of Security Sector Management © GFN-SSR, 2006
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