AN ATTEMPT by the deputy Minister of Interior, Kobby Acheampong to absolve himself from public insults has backfired as the speed gun used to check over-speeding at Ekumfi Esaafa is working, contrary to his claims.

According to Daily Guide investigations, the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards (PIPS) unit ordered the Central Regional Police Command to send the speed gun that the eight police officers were using to check over-speeding to Accra and it revealed that it was working perfectly.

The situation, according to Daily Guide information, has given room for some police officers to speak ill of the minister.

DAILY GUIDE spotted some police officers at the regional headquarters discussing the issue while some of them claimed the action of the minster had reduced their morale, adding that if measures were not put in place, most of them would not be able to work effectively.

“We don’t know whom we will be checking next time to lead to our interdiction so we have been intimidated by the incident,” a policeman added.

The minister was said to be eating Fante kenkey and lobsters while his driver was over-speeding.

The policeman, Henry Addison, 30, who has been interdicted, is a father of three.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Paul Tawiah Quaye, ordered the arrest of eight cops who stopped the deputy minister for over-speeding last Sunday.

The eight members of the Central Regional Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) were later released, with Corporal Addison being interdicted on the allegation that he described the deputy minister as ‘stupid’.

The police officers were arrested in their various houses and sent to Accra.

Disquiet In Police This action is creating discontent among the rank and file of the police service. Most policemen including top brass officers at the police headquarters and other stations in Accra, who have been speaking to DAILY GUIDE in the last couple of days, have expressed extreme disappointment at the conduct of the IGP.

They believed the Chief Constable was not doing enough to protect his men but rather taking delight in exposing them to public ridicule.

Some police officers who spoke to DAILY GUIDE said more often than not, policemen, especially junior ranks, who were accused of an offence or the other, were not given room to defend themselves before they were virtually pronounced guilty in the court of public opinion.

They believed that the IGP and his team had turned them into sacrificial lambs to save their jobs and positions.

“If not, why would they always want to parade policemen alleged to have committed an offence or the other before you guys in the media for you to take them pictures and splash them on the front pages of your newspapers to disgrace them and their families?” one senior officer asked rhetorically, seeking to know what had become of the several cases in which policemen were alleged to have been caught taking bribes from motorists at different locations in the country and later turned out to be unfounded.

Obviously enraged at unfolding events in the police service, the officer said, “This is the Ghana Police Service we are talking about not some boys scout or a private security company,” asking rhetorically, “When was the first or last time you heard the military or any of the security agencies have given out their own like that or caused their pictures to be splashed on the front pages of newspapers?”

He said, “They won’t because they would be compromising the security of the nation.” According to him, “All this negative publicity goes a long way to affect the image and credibility of the service but the IGP just takes delight in doing it to please his political masters to save his job.”

That, he said, was seriously affecting morale of the officers and men in the service and thus wanted the Chief Constable to put his act together before the situation degenerated.

They asked rhetorically, “How can you interdict a policeman for carrying out his lawful duty without service enquiry into alleged misconduct?”