The news about Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO) donating an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to the Ghana police service is a very refreshing one. It is timely and couldn’t have come at a better time than this when we are readying ourselves for a crucial election in December.
The action by Gridco is very laudable and the company deserves commendations for taking such strategic and timely steps in supporting the service.
This gesture will definitely put the service in a better position to carry out its operations in a more detailed, accurate, specific and targeted fashion by gathering advance information on the activities of individuals who will want to disturb the peace of our country.
The coming of the drone will enhance crime combat. It will help the police to better spy on criminals in their hideouts to smoke them out before they strike.
It will be of great service in terms of the carrying out reconnaissance(recce) on the activities of criminals.
It will help monitor and police political party rallies and activities and take up to minute pictures and videos of troublemakers at search gatherings.
The future of policing undoubtedly is largely going to be driven by technology, intelligence gathering.
So it was good to learn that the Ghana police service as futuristic as its current posturing shows, acted in the best of ways by requesting for the device and Gridco responded appropriately and timeously.
Crime is evolving and so must policing,law enforcement and crime combat. The law enforcement agencies cannot allow criminals to take gargantuan steps ahead of them. They must always be a step behind the criminals if they can’t overtake in order to keep them in check.
It is also heartwarming to learn that the Ghana Police Service is embracing technology in order to enforce the laws of the country and also to prevent crime. Such steps are commendable.
Going forward, it is important that other institutions recognise that crime fighting is a shared responsibility and that the police service cannot do it alone. They will need the assistance of all well meaning individual and institutions, private and public to carry out its mandate.
The coming of the drone technology means that soon, there will be the need for a massive change in paradigm in terms of HR and realignment of units or creation of new units to accommodate the drone technology.
If it is possible within the short to medium term to create a special unit for the drones to be called the drone and reconnaissance unit to give special attention to drone technology, it will go a long way keep the drones safe and well monitored.
As part of the HR realignment, the service will need to either recruit from within or without the service people with the requisite knowhow and qualifications to handle the drones.
Personnel in the service will also need to brace themselves for the future of policing by way of drone technology and learn to move away from the “macho and muscle development” to developing their minds to fit into this great future that is already upon us.