Police Service to use ultra-modern archival facility to improve services
The Ghana Police Service, as part of its strategic plans, has initiated the processes to construct an ultra-modern facility for archival collections and records keeping to advance the effectiveness and efficiency of its functions.
Mr David Asante-Apeatu, the Acting Inspector General of Police, expressed the Service’s commitment in adopting digital technology to prevent the loss of vital and timely information and make access to information less strenuous.
The Acting IGP was addressing the closing ceremony of a two-week training course on Archival Studies and Records Management for 20 personnel of the Police Service.
Mr Asante-Apeatu explained that the course would steer the Service towards the vision of becoming a world class entity capable of delivering planned, democratic, protective and peaceful services to meet international standards.
He, therefore, expressed concern about the bad information systems at various public sector institutions, including the Police Service, which he said, impeded court processes and justice delivery and created huge but avoidable conflicts in land litigations.
He urged the participants to put into use the knowledge gained and improve their performance in ensuring that documents and information were secured, safe, confidential, easily accessed in a relatively short time, well-classified and protected against theft.
The training was organised by the Police Service in collaboration with the Information Studies Department of the University of Ghana and the Public Records and Archives Administration Department.
The participants were taken through topics such as: Records Management; Information as an Organisation’s Resource; Storage and Records Centre; Electronic Records Management; Vital Records Protection; Planning and Preparing for Disaster; and Archives Legislation and Professional Ethics.
“These topics are important in oiling the wheels of a huge bureaucracy like the Police Service to ensure that the administration functions effectively within the framework of time consciousness,” the Acting IGP said.
Dr Emmanuel Adjei, the Head of Department of Information Studies at the University of Ghana, said transparency and accountability in a democratic society were ultimately achieved by giving the public the right access to information through effective record management.
“Sound records management is essential to conduct office business and make public administration more effective and efficient since it is one of the pillars of good public management because government activities are based on access to information,” he added.
He stressed that record keeping should be given priority by the Police Service to enhance service delivery in its operations.
Source: GNA