Four police officers working in the police control room monitoring CCTV cameras in the Ashanti Region have been interdicted.
The officers were captured on a viral tape passing anti-Muslim comments while running commentary on the recent Islamic Senior High School incident.
The officers in the tape are heard calling the students troublemakers.
“They are dirty. Wherever these Muslims are, there is problem,” one of the officers was heard saying.
The officers lashed out at the students saying that they should use the right procedures to air their grievances, rather than hitting the street to demonstrate amidst blocking the road. But the comments have been condemned by some leaders in zongo communities in the Ashanti Region, who have taken strong exceptions to the comments.
The Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare in reaction, interdicted the officers to allow for a probe into their conduct.
Dr. Dampare consequently directed the Director General of Police Operations, DCOP Mohammed Suraji to meet with Muslim leaders including Zongo Chief of Kumasi, Alhaji Umar Sultan Farouk to apologize to them over the comments and inform them about actions taken by the police service to address the issue.
“Some of our officers who monitor our CCTV cameras at the Police Control Room made some comments about people living in Zongo communities and Muslims and called them troublemakers. I am from Zongo and as a Director General of Police Operations I am not a troublemaker. It is my effort and hard work that got me there. The IGP himself is not happy about those comments because he said he is a Zongo indigene himself, and he has directed the immediate interdiction of those four police officers,” he said.
“There are ongoing investigations to find out why they spewed out those comments. Such statements tend to create disturbances, especially for inhabitants of Zongo communities who are directly affected by these comments. That is why the IGP sent me as an indigene of Zongo to come to the Chiefs and apologize for the comments and also to tell the entire Zongo community that the comments do not reflect the Ghana Police Service,” he added.
