With a clear understanding of emerging global security challenge which places serious emphasis on community policing, the government of Ghana has decided to recruit and train more than 30,000 youths and deployed as Community Policing Assistants (CPAs).
The scheme coming under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), is expected to be completed before the end of the year.
The new idea stemmed from a partnership between the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) and the Ghana Police Service on Community Safety and Security Innovation aimed at helping to address youth unemployment in the country.
Mr Bashiri Ibrahim, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of YEA, disclosed this at a sensitisation workshop for personnel of the Police Service on the new Community Policing module in Cape Coast weekend.
In Nigeria, issues surrounding Community Policing have been a recurring decimal. Whereas states are eager to drive the scheme, the federal government which currently controls the Nigeria Police, had been on cold feet to avoid losing its grip in times of political issues of national importance.
In an interview, the Ghanaian Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), who doubles as the Director-General of the National Patrol Department of the Ghana Police Service, Akuribah Yaagy, explained that the new community policing strategy is tailored towards improved visibility and accessibility in the communities to guarantee maximum protection.
