The Eastern Regional Police Command has denied a publication in a private newspaper to the effect that an Inspector had striped a woman naked.
A statement from the Regional Public Relations Unit and signed by Corporal Gideon Boateng, Deputy Public Relations Officer, said “the Police Service as an organization would not be drawn into war of words with a journalist who writes without cross-checking his facts.”
“It is necessary that such journalistic misdemeanors are corrected before they cause public anger against a noble organization like the Ghana Police Service,” it said.
The statement said: “The writer stated that, ‘The whole of Akwadum, a farming community, was thrown into a state of confusion last Monday when a Police Inspector allegedly striped a woman naked in public’.
“By the use of the word allegedly should have prompted the writer to cross-check his facts before going to press. After all, natural justice demands that both parties should be heard in any allegation”.
It said the Police would never be deterred in the execution of its mandate no matter what false publications were made against the Service.
Throwing more light on the issue, the statement said one Christiana Owureduwa, of Brong Densuso, a suburb of Akwadum, reported a case of insulting behaviour and threat at the Akwadum Police Station against one Ayisha, who is a girl friend of one Kofi Kuntey, a son of the complainant’s landlord.
It explained that the said Ayisha was then invited to the Police Station by the Station Detective, which she obliged.
It said the suspect, however, showed misconduct towards the Station Officer.
It said the Station Officer referred the matter to the Domestic Violence Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) in Koforidua.
The statement advised the writer to do his journalistic duties well before going to press and to be circumspect of his reportage.