TITLE:
Community-Police Relations and Informant Identity Protection: Evidence from Some Selected Communities in the Brong-Ahafo Region, Ghana
AUTHORS:
Francess Dufie Azumah, Joana Obeng Nyarko, Samuel Krampah, John Onzaberigu Nachinaab
KEYWORDS:
Police, Informant, Community, Crime
JOURNAL NAME:
Current Urban Studies,
Vol.7 No.2,
June
27,
2019
ABSTRACT: For effective crime control, the roles of informants
are critical. The police and community members’ relation is needed for the
police continuous reliance on informants’ information on crime. This has been
the principle for fighting crime in many parts of the developed countries in
the World. The study sought to examine the relations between community and
police in providing protection for informants in crime investigation within
communities (Tepa and Hwediem) in Brong-Ahafo Region, placing much emphasis on
the relationship between community members and police in providing information
for combating crime, the effectiveness of informants’ information in fighting
crime and measures that could improve the relationship between community
members and police in protecting informants. Social survey design was adopted.
Cluster sampling and simple random were used to select 400 respondents (community
members and police). Quantitative approach was adopted. The study found that
informants were relatively fewer in the community. The study found that
respondents who reported criminal cases to the police indicated that their act
was very important in fighting crime. It was concluded that a good relationship
between community members and police was needed to protect informants. The
results showed that majority of the respondents strongly agreed informants’
identities should not be revealed to suspects. The researchers recommended that
since effective communication is fundamental to positive police-community
relationships, the Government and Ghana Police Service (GPS) should seek to provide
its officers with an understanding of language
diversity. The researchers then again recommended that officers
of the GPS should be provided with an in-service training by the Government and
GPS to improve community policing and trust building.