The Ministry of the Interior says the arrest of a civilian captured in a viral video allegedly assaulting a handcuffed suspect at the Police Headquarters will not end investigations into the incident, as attention now turns to how civilians gained access to a person in police custody and whether officers facilitated the encounter.
Spokesperson to the Interior Minister, Julius Kwame Anthony, says Minister Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak has directed the Inspector-General of Police to conduct a three-layer investigation aimed at establishing the full circumstances surrounding the incident.
Speaking with Sena Numbo on Radio Gold, Mr. Anthony said the state assumes responsibility for the protection of persons once they are arrested, stressing that an arrest may restrict a person’s liberty but does not extinguish their other fundamental rights.
The investigation, he explained, will first establish how civilians were able to enter the Police Headquarters and gain access to the suspect, as well as identify all civilians involved. He noted that while one person could be seen in the viral footage, other voices could be heard in the background.
The second aspect will identify the police officers directly responsible for the custody and protection of the handcuffed suspect and establish what role, if any, they played in allowing the incident to occur.
The third will examine the responsibility of the supervising officers overseeing the personnel who had custody of the suspect.
Mr. Anthony said the Interior Minister is particularly concerned about the apparent breach of normal police procedure, arguing that civilians should not ordinarily be able to walk into a secure police facility and gain unrestricted access to a person under arrest.
While confirming that the individual seen in the viral video has been arrested, he stressed that the development represents only the first step in the process.
“The line of actions that the minister has directed to be undertaken would be concluded when there is an accounting for the officers,” he said, adding that investigators must determine whether access was enabled through deliberate facilitation or some other failure within the security arrangement.
Mr. Anthony also warned against attempts to justify violence on religious, political, ethnic or personal grounds.
He said no religious belief or personal grievance places anyone above Ghana’s laws, adding that all persons found culpable after investigations would be dealt with according to law.
He further cautioned against rhetoric that promotes religious, ethnic or political bigotry, warning that such sentiments could prevent the public from objectively assessing the facts surrounding sensitive incidents.
