This past yuletide, my cats were yet again subjected to the horror of the violent cracks of firecrackers searing through the still Teshie night.

I gently stroked my terrified felines telling them the unscrupulous or ignorant persons willfully violating the Executive Instrument 21 would for once be arrested for something that has essentially been a crime since 1999. Of course, I didn’t believe myself. Come January 1, 2018, the sky was alight with a seeming marker of the Police’s incompetence and inconsistencies.

When I was about 10 years old, in the ‘90s, a firecracker was launched over a neighbor’s wall, landed on my big toe and exploded leaving me with a searing pain I had not felt before. But as much as I would like to produce paragraphs on how much of an anathema they are, because of the unruly noise pollution and foul smell, among others, the firecrackers form part of the puzzle presented by the Christmas period that paints a telling portrait of our police service. It is a portrait steeped in a nuance highlighting the lip service and recycled rhetoric but also a certain underrated dedication and reliability.

The police set out to do a lot of things ahead of the holiday period, which they publicized well with their greatly improved social media presence and media engagement. The police presence was clear in major areas in Accra, although the question could be asked if the trotro station across Vienna City really needed two police officers armed like special forces soldiers. But we were promised more police and more police we got. Traffic was also well managed. There are few feelings better than catching a glimpse of the silhouette of an MTTD personnel when you are stuck in hellishly slow moving traffic. A lot of us can identify with the assurance of some sanity they are supposed to bring.

On the flip side, there is nothing more frustrating than seeing two extra lanes materialize, like the specters in Kumawood films, under the noses of police personnel seemingly mocking both the drivers adhering to the law and the police pretending to be doing their jobs. In one swoop, it is clear that lack of consistency is something the police should be leaving behind in 2017. I won’t be the one to laud the police for doing the job the deductions from my payslip pay them to do. But I will complain. I am Ghanaian after all. Plus I do feel they can and should do better. It is not like the police service is vying for some form of office so a proper crack down on crime will breed some public disdain.

I think it all starts with regarding every crime and misdemeanors with the same intensity (within the boundaries of the law) and moving on from there. Jaywalking, improper parking, littering, over speeding, rape, murder and so on should be treated in the manner Christians believe all sin is a sin that would eventually land you in the Jacuzzi of hellfire. Now if the police take this prompt the wrong way and decide to approach hunting down robbers like the way they approached enforcing the ban on firecrackers or littering in public, then Ghana’s problems are more gargantuan than the most pessimistic of us thought.

But I imagine the police know they have to step up their game when it comes to crimes considered mere misdemeanours. It makes a big difference. Police will raise hell when there is a high profile robbery or one of their own, or a bourgeoisie is a victim of criminal activity, but I’m just saying they should tackle me to the ground and strap handcuffs on me when they seem me jaywalking. They are capable. I’ve seen a few patrolmen jump on motorbikes and chase after drivers that crossed red lights. Some may call it pettiness, but if they did that every day for two months, they would establish a better baseline for public compliance and I reckon the country would be rid of such offences.

So how did the police fare during the Christmas period, where they are known to come with a number of operations with amusing monikers? The outlined about nine things they hoped to do. We already know they failed with to deal with firecrackers – the actually didn’t bother if we are being honest. I’ve also hinted at the fact they were lukewarm when it came to traffic management although I can only speak to Accra. On the brighter side, I’m yet to hear of any widespread burglaries following December 31. There was one robbery I noted which recorded some wounded victims, but stuff happens. We’ll just keep our fingers crossed for some results.

The police talked about a lot of stuff, ranging from Anti-land guard policing to vital installation policing but I have always found it odd to assume that crime necessarily escalated during the Christmas period. Unfortunately, I’m not privy to concrete statistics so I’m not going to bet my house on anything. I guess what I am trying to say is the pre-emptive measures put in place during the various Christmas operations should be the norm in the police service year round – save for the placing of heavily armed guards solely at bus stops.

They should be stretching their legs a little. Most of the juicy crime issues come out during in the thick of a given year, not when the police have said they are putting in place special measures, only to go back into first gear.

As an aside, last year, a little more light was shed on acts of harassment and brutality so the police better check themselves going into 2018. Bad things will, unfortunately, happen – such is life and such is our flawed police service. When the police falter in this regard, all we the watchers will be hoping for is the right response.

The Ashanti Regional Police Command said it would bring the hammer down on the officers who that decided to play apartheid with some students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. It would be nice if they made a public show of it. So just as a word of advice, the IGP and co should watch out for the trap police brutality will present it. Consider this my first prediction for the year.

The police can be great when they operate in higher gears, whether it is striking the fear of God into crime-prone areas or ensuring some civilized behavior on a gridlocked highway or even when it comes to regular policing. I smile fondly when I recall a certain rainy morning in 2013 when a police pickup truck stopped to provide aid to some stranded school kids.

That was policing at its finest. But of course, being the glass-half-empty folk that we are, dwelling on the apathy, laziness, recruitment issues and corruption is the more appealing proposition. As a tribute to the police’s lip service, I’ll just say they do so much with so little so God bless them. Hopefully, Nana Akufo-Addo gets Ghana working again (has Ghana worked before?) so the police have more manpower.

As we transitioned into 2018, the resolutions and prayers were flying about on Twitter and I hope the police asked baby Jesus for a spirit and culture of more consistency as a gift to take them into the new year. If not, I’m going to spend another Christmas assuring my cats that Ghana did not descend into a vicious civil war.