Law Lecturer at University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) Justice Abdulai, has called on government and the Police hierarchy to delegate the prosecutorial functions to law graduates in order for the Police to focus on core policing duties. He opined that the LLB graduates are in position to understand the legal nuances as compared to Police Officers who have to combine their investigation tasks with policing duties.
“These law graduates can take up the prosecutorial functions and perform them. There are lot of them that we churn out every year without jobs. So this can help in the area of employment”.
He said the country’s statistics of Police to civilian ratio as per the UN standard, left much to be desired and such a move will be a win-win for the country and help to reduce graduate unemployment and make the country safer.
As recruits pass out in 2019, the Interior Minister Ambrose Dery in his speech, lamented how the Ghana Police Service (GPS) has a shortfall of about 28,000 personnel, leaving the nation still short of the required ratio of one police officer to a number of civilians.
He however assured that government was determined to progressively recruit additional personnel to meet the UN Police to Population ratio of 1 to 500. This he believed would help the Ghana Police Service achieve its vision of becoming a world class Police Service.
But Justice Abdulai explained one of the ways the country can move closer to achieving the needed UN Police to Population ratio is to consider his suggestion of giving the prosecutorial duties to law graduates. He believes although the number may not be great from the beginning, it will serve as incentive for others to study law.
