Accra, May 15, GNA— A total of 129 Police Cadet known as “Course 50” Officers were on Saturday enrolled into the University of Cape Coast (UCC) to undertake a Postgraduate Diploma course in Security Studies.
The programme is a collaboration between the Ghana Police Service (GPS) and UCC.
The first cohort is made up of 129 students – ninety-nine (99) males and thirty (30) females.
Professor Johnson Nyarko Boampong, Vice Chancellor (VC), UCC, said the University had been at the forefront of training security personnel from various security agencies.
He said on February 22, 2021, UCC formally signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the GPS to affiliate all Police Training Institutions to the University.
The VC said per the MoU, UCC would run tailor-made academic and professional programmes for personnel at various levels of the Service and the programmes would be at the levels of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.
He assured the GPS that UCC would not renege on its responsibilities to equip officers with quality academic training to raise their professional competence in the discharge of their duties to meet international standards.
“In doing this, we shall provide quality training to attain the Ghana Police Service’s vision of becoming a world-class Police Service capable of delivering a planned, democratic, protective and peaceful service up to the standard of international best practice,” he said.
The VC said the Programme had taken into consideration contemporary standards and competencies in Police training and had bridged the traditional police training and practice with contemporary academic policing education.
The personnel would be trained in strategic research, leadership and security policy and strategy formulation, which will support the national security development agenda of the country.
Prof. Boampong urged the matriculants to take advantage of the many opportunities that had been provided to enable them to learn and enhance their future career in the Police Service.
“This programme will enhance and improve your career as a police officer to uphold the tenets of the Ghana Police Service which is culminated in its motto ‘Service with Integrity.’ You have no excuse to fail the Ghana Police Service and Ghanaians in offering them with effective and efficient policing,” he said.
The Vice Chancellor advised the matriculants to strategise, and manage the little time available to them effectively to derive maximum benefit from the Programme.
Prof. Boampong called on the female officers to put in a lot more effort, adding that their burden was heavier because « unlike men, you have to juggle many balls. »
Mr James Oppong-Boanuh, Inspector-General of the Ghana Police Service, said the quality of service delivery or product of every organisation largely depended on the quality of its human resources.
Thus, developing the career progression of employees through continuous capacity building initiatives was the bedrock for the survival and sustainability of every institution.
He explained that a Training and Curriculum Review Committee was constituted in 2020 after identifying some gaps in the training and curricula architecture of the Service, which they presented some recommendations.
“It is my expectation that this outstanding novelty within our training architecture, which seeks to enhance the managerial and leadership skills of Cadet Officers, would be sustained for the Service to reap its benefits,” he said.
The IGP noted that after completing the training, Ghanaians would expect the personnel to bring their leadership and managerial expertise to bear on policing and make both the GPS and UCC proud for investing in them.