Kumasi, Jan 18, GNA - A two-week capacity building course for selected police personnel to enhance their professional competence has opened at the Police Training School, Patasi, Kumasi. The 150 personnel from Ashanti, Eastern, Brong-Ahafo, Upper East, Upper West and the Northern Regions would be taken through weapon handling, physical training, criminal law, communication skills, human rights, confidence building and democratic policing. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Patrick Eden Timbillah, Ashanti Regional Police Commander, who disclosed these to GNA in Kumasi on Monday, said the course was aimed at enriching the knowledge, skills and professional ethics of personnel.

He said the Police Administration was determined to raise the image of the Ghana Police Service and would do everything to maintain high professional standards.

DCOP Timbillah said negative attitudes and acts of un-professionalism that tend to create image problems for the police would have to be shed. He expressed the hope that participants at the end of the course would be well equipped with the basic principles of modern policing, improve upon their relationship with the public, respect the rights of others and cooperate with the public to win the war against robbery and violence.

DCOP Timbillah commended the public and the media for supporting the police in the fight against crime, particularly in the Ashanti Region.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Emmanuel Akonor, Head of the Training School, advised the participants to take the course seriously to improve on their competence.