Anti-Armed Robbery Crusade (Pages 32 and 41)

METHODS used by the Ghana Police Service in its renewed anti-armed robbery crusade has earned support from many Ghanaians, including the Executive arm of government.
That is likely to displease human rights activists who would rather the police either arrested the suspects or, at worst, shot to maim, instead of to kill.
The President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 applauded the Ghana Police Service and expressed his admiration for the courage and sacrifices being exhibited by the officers and men of the service in confronting violent crime in the country.
The President said he was satisfied with the measures being taken by the Police Administration to deal with crime, particularly armed robbery, and reiterated his determination to ensure that the security services were well equipped to enable them to fight vices in society and safeguard the interests and welfare of the people.
That was when he swore into office members of the Police Council at the Castle, Osu in Accra.
In reference to the police shooting suspected armed robbers, the Minister of the Interior, Mr Cletus Avoka, was reported by the Daily Graphic to have said, “These armed robbers kill, they maim, they loot and they rape. We have not killed innocent people, I can assure the nation. We will express our regret if it becomes clear that innocent people are involved.”
Touching on the successes chalked up by the police in dealing with armed robbery, the killing of armed robbers in shoot-outs and comments by some human rights and security experts on the matter, Mr Avoka said the objective of the police was not to shoot to kill.
“The objective is to arrest them because when we arrest them we are able to get their accomplices and collaborators. But, unfortunately, the robbers do not tolerate the police.
“On seeing policemen, they shoot to kill. They kill the police so the police have to protect their lives. All those who demand human rights should know that nature’s first law is self-preservation,” he said.
At the meeting where Mr Avoka expressed these sentiments, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, was also reported to have made a statement in support of the police action. He went on to honour some policemen who killed eight armed robbers in the Ashanti Region.
In a related development, a senior member of the Police Service has defended the recent killings of suspected armed robbers, saying the personnel have no option but to fire back when they are attacked.
The Director of Administration of the Ghana Police Service, ACP (Dr) P.A. Wiredu, said the laws of Ghana allowed all Ghanaians, including police personnel, to defend themselves when they were faced with danger.
Answering questions at a human rights awareness public forum organised by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) in Accra on July 27, 2009, ACP Wiredu stated that “the first law of nature is self-preservation”.
He explained that many of the robbers in the recent cases carried sophisticated arms and were usually the first to open fire, which forced the police to retaliate.
He added that “self defence is paramount”.
The director said the police would have wished to arrest the suspects to help in police investigations but they would not risk their lives when they were faced with life-threatening situations.
He cited cases in Kumasi and Tema where armed men suspected to be robbers fired at policemen on duty and succeeded in wounding one of them.
In such instances, ACP Wiredu said, the police could not look on unconcerned as their lives were threatened.
He said some suspected armed robbers had been arrested and put before the courts and so the public should understand that the police did not always kill such suspects but only those who tried to kill them.
Some members of the public seem to be in agreement with the police. An indication of this was the noise of disapproval which greeted this reporter when, at the CHRI forum, she asked why the police did not arrest suspected armed robbers but killed them.
A group of young men at the forum openly directed their anger at this reporter and told her to reserve her question until she had been attacked by armed robbers.
“Madam, what are saying? I don’t think you will sympathise with armed robbers if you have ever been attacked. They are beasts and do not deserve to live among humans,” Abu, who said his house at Madina had once been attacked by armed robbers, followed me outside the conference room of the British Council with that statement.
He said about a year ago seven young men surrounded the house deep in the night and at gunpoint beat up the men and raped two young ladies. After that, they went ahead and carried away every valuable item they could lay their hands on.
His friend, Efo Emma, shared his view and added, “Madam, they should be killed. Do you expect the police to stand there as these monsters shoot at them? In fact, the police should not wait for the robbers to shoot first. As soon as they see the robbers with guns or knives, they should kill them, period!”
Not pleased with human right activists, Efo Emma said “human right activists should direct their ‘preaching’ at the criminals who have decided to make the lives of innocent people miserable. If their wives or sisters have ever been raped in their presence, they will not talk the way they are talking”.
A story carried by the Daily Graphic on July 15, 2009 indicated that many residents of Accra did not expect armed robbers to live when caught.
Five out of eight people who were randomly selected for their views on the issue were in favour of applying capital punishment on armed robbers.
Six of the interviewees said that they had been victims of armed robbery in their homes, vehicles or in the open, usually at night.
Assessing those who said they had ever been victims, it was clear that it was not only the rich who were at risk. Anybody could be a target.
The operations of these criminals range from the snatching of phones and bags, in the process of which they either draw knives or pull guns, to the scaling of walls into homes where they break doors to steal, rape and kill.
There is also the issue of bank robberies which happen at day time, during which the robbers hold bank workers hostage and with guns pulled at their (workers’) heads, carry huge sums of money away.
Car owners are not free and any attempt to prevent the robbers from taking away a car could result in something terrible happening to the driver.
Due to the activities of the robbers, some taxi drivers have decided not to work after a certain time.
Another set of interviews conducted on the issue on July 28, 2009 indicated that the public continued to have the same attitude towards armed robbers — they must be killed when caught.
Madam Diana Asiamah, a resident of Tesano who called the offices of the Daily Graphic, said what worried her was the introduction of rape by the robbers.
“My sister, can you imagine being raped while your husband and children are made to look on? If you are not strong, you may end up committing suicide after that,” she stated.
To her, armed robbers should be killed to deter others. She disagreed with human rights activists who believed that suspected robbers should be arrested and prosecuted.
“They are the same people who go to prison and come back hardened to continue to terrorise us. The police must be commended, instead of being condemned,” she added.
A 24-year-old Political Science student who would want to remain anonymous said armed robbers were lazy people who did not work but took from others using violent means.
“Why would anybody want to defend such heartless people? Since they do not respect the lives of others, why should anybody respect their lives? he queried.
But human rights activists disagree with such a position. In a recent interview with the Daily Graphic, a criminologist and human rights lawyer, Prof Ken Attafuah, and the Head of the Conflict Management, Prevention and Resolution Department of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Dr Kwesi Anning, disagreed with the police on the issue.
They said shooting, in circumstances such as the one in which the Kumasi police found themselves, should be applied as a last resort.
They also disagreed with the imposition of the death penalty on convicted armed robbers because that form of punishment was not absolute in deterrence.
According to Prof Attafuah, those who held the deadly force of state had a greater responsibility to be circumspect.
He said without condemning the police for their action, it had to be made clear that the first duty of the police was to protect property and lives, including the lives of suspected criminals and aggressors.
He said in the course of discharging that responsibility, the police were at liberty to use reasonable force determined in terms of proportionality, adding that the force applied by the police ought to be proportional to the threat encountered.
“If someone shoots at you with a pistol and you use an AK47 rifle to riddle him, you have not acted proportionately,” he contended.
Prof Attafuah said the rules of engagement in a face-to-face combat imposed a responsibility on a combatant to shoot to kill only if his or her life was threatened.
He said it was for that reason that the police were trained to shoot to maim, instead of kill.
He cited the Taifa and Dansoman shooting incidents in which the police came under severe public criticism for shooting and killing innocent individuals they mistook for criminals.
He said the police ought to understand that they were subject to the principle of accountability for any person they killed.
Commenting on the application of the death penalty, Prof Attafuah said that form of punishment was not the solution to violent crime, adding that its deterrent effect was more imaginary than real.
He said there were clear indications that in countries such as Canada where the death penalty had been abolished, the rate of violent crime was low, whereas in countries such as Nigeria and South Africa where the death penalty was applied, the rate of violent crime was still high.
He stressed that nowhere in the world had police fire-for-fire with armed robbers solved the problem of violent crimes.
Speaking on an Accra radio station on July 29, 2009, Prof Attafuah said the shoot-to-kill policy adopted by the police was only but a temporary measure to assume the police were in control but that was not the solution to the problem.
He argued that violent crimes were always beneficial to the criminal because they were an efficient and relatively easy way of making money, adding that only few armed robbers desisted from the act because of their fear of being taken out by the police.
“They only consider the police as a nuisance and are ready to engage them," he said.
Prof Attafuah conceded, however, that the “police are allowed to use reasonable force to take down a suspected armed robber if they hold a sincere belief that it is necessary and appropriate to use such amount of force in order to ensure the efficient, safe and economical enforcement of the law”.
Explaining four cardinal principles under which an armed robber could be killed, Prof Attafuah said the police must be ready to account for the ammunition used and must adhere to the principle of proportionality, saying they would be wrong in killing an armed robber wielding a knife when they could have shot to disable him and effect his arrest.
He added that there must be absolute necessity for the killing and the act itself must have a strong basis in law.
He explained that in the unfortunate event of death, the police officer concerned must be hauled before a service enquiry to explain the circumstances under which the death occurred.
The government, he said, must fashion a long-term solution to the problem, which included investing in day-care facilities, paying nursery teachers, as well as tertiary ones, and expanding opportunities for child care education.
That he said, would provide a lasting solution to the problem of violent crimes.
His statement came in the wake of aggressive policing which had led to the killing of more than 15 armed robbers across the country in the past couple of weeks.
Commenting on the killing of the suspected armed robbers in Kumasi, Dr Anning, on his part, said once a person attacked a police officer unlawfully, the officer had the right to defend himself.
He, however, said in circumstances where the police shot and killed suspected armed robbers even when they (robbers) had laid down their arms, the police could not be justified in their action.
He said where suspected armed robbers were fleeing police encounter, it was more appropriate for the police to aim at the legs of the suspects and shoot to maim, instead of kill, because the latter option was against the rules of war.
On the death penalty, Dr Anning said he did not believe in that form of punishment because it was possible for convicts to reform and so it was not right to kill them.

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