The Police Administration has issued a stern warning to fraudsters who target job seekers to stay off its upcoming recruitment process.

"Any fraudster who wants to take advantage of the publication of the Ghana Police Service 2021 recruitment process to swindle people will be dealt with ruthlessly according to the law,” the acting Director-General of the Public Affairs Directorate of the Ghana Police Service, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr Kwesi Ofori, said in an interview last Monday.

He advised people seeking to join the Ghana Police Service to be vigilant and report any scammer who used illegitimate means and social media platforms in an attempt to swindle unsuspecting people.

"The public must be wary of advertisers or persons requesting an upfront fee for processing your applications. A genuine advertiser or employer will not ask you for money.

“The fraudsters also request for money transfer. Nobody should part with money through any middleman to facilitate his or her recruitment into the Police Service," ACP Mr Ofori said.

Middlemen

He said the public must also take note of scammers who requested for non-work-related personal information, such as "your appearance or marital status. A recruiter should only need to meet the general requirements specified in the publication".

ACP Mr Ofori said the Police Administration had not contracted any middleman for the recruitment process.

"Any person who claims to be selling recruitment forms should be ignored. We are not selling any recruitment forms for the process," he cautioned.

He urged aspiring recruits to "abide strictly by the instructions stated in the advertisement published in the state media, including the Daily Graphic”.

The Police Administration, he said, was not using any social media platform for the recruitment

Professionals

The government recently gave clearance for the recruitment of personnel. The Ghana Police Service was cleared to employ about 5,000 people into the service.

An advert announcing the police 2021 recruitment indicated that the process would cover general duty recruits, tradesmen, graduates for general duty and professionals.

The professionals being sought for include communications and public affairs officers, language specialists, legal officers (lawyers), clinical psychologists, medical specialists, pharmacists, medical doctors, radiologists, sonographers, certified registered anaesthetists, medical laboratory assistants, health informatics and nurses.

There are also opportunities for drivers, riders and motor vehicle mechanics under the tradesmen recruits slots.

Requirements

All applicants are to satisfy general requirements, in addition to some specific requirements for specific categories.

The general requirements include being a Ghanaian, of good character, without criminal records, not having been dismissed from any public service or any other employment, be at least 173 centimetres tall for males and 163 centimetres for women and be physically and medically fit by Ghana Police Service standards.

Scams

A number of people have fallen for fraudulent characters and parted with huge sums of money in order to be enlisted into the Ghana Police Service.

In March 2015, the service was hit with a scandal.

Hundreds of people turned up at five police training depots for enlistment into the service but they were disappointed. They found that their recruitment letters were fake, and that the purported enlistment was a scam.

The victims were said to have paid money ranging from GH¢2,000 to GH¢3,500 to the fraudster.

In June 2015, another scam concerning recruitment into the Police Service duped about 500 people.

In March 2016, the Eastern Regional Police Command alerted the public to an online recruitment scam and vowed to do everything to track down those behind it.