Accra, 24 June, GNA - Mr David Asante Apeatu, Director of the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on Friday cautioned personnel of the Service to improve upon the way they handled witness during investigations. He said, this would elicit more information, bring cooperation from witnesses and improve upon the image of the Police Service as well.

Mr Apeatu was addressing the closing ceremony of a two-week course on: "Crime Scene Management" for personnel of the CID in Accra. The Course, which was under French/Ghana Cooperation, brought together 42 CID personnel across the country.

Dr Kofi Kesse Marfo, Deputy Inspector General of Police in Charge of Operations, said, "the proper management of a crime scene by the Police would go long way to move the Service forward. He charged the personnel to work with the knowledge they had acquired to make a positive impact on crime scene management in the country, adding that they should not distort evidence gathered at crime scene for their own personal gains.

Mr Bernard Poudevigne, Co-operation Attach=E9 at the French Embassy, said material elements gathered at the crime scene was very often the only means available to investigators in tracking down the perpetrators of crimes and offences. Mr Poudevigne, therefore, charged the personnel to see themselves as the first link of the chain, which led to the demonstration of the proof of guilt or innocence of an accused person.

Captain Micheal Pothier, the French Project Co-ordinator of the training programme, later presented crime scene equipment worth 40,000 euros to Regional Offices of the CID. The equipment included digital cameras, fingerprint-lifting powder and gloves. Captain Potier said the donation was meant to improve on crime scene management and make it easier for the personnel to put what they had leant at the course into practice. He said the materials would facilitate the search for elements of proof for the subsequent laying before the courts as evidence.

Topics treated included: "Crime Scene Management"; "Counterfeiting"; "Finding of Fingerprints at Crime Scenes" and "Techniques of Handling Evidence". The training programme and the donation were part of a three-year support from the French Government under the Ghana French Cooperation Project estimated at one million euros.