Abstract:
This study employed the qualitative approach to examine complaints lodged by citizens
against some police officers of the Ghana Police Service. Particularly, the study relied on
documented complaints at the Police Professional Standards Bureau (PPSB), a body
established under the Police Service to deal with issues of police conduct and
professionalism. Relying on the Procedural Justice and the Media Richness theories, the
researcher analysed the kind of complaints lodged against the police, the channels of
lodging these complaints and how the complaints were resolved. Out of the 1709
complaints lodged at the bureau in the year 2018, 987 of them were connected to the theme
of unfair treatment and abuse of power. The second most dominant category of complaints
included performance deficit which encapsulates unprofessional handling of cases, undue
delay of investigation, enlistment fraud, inability to apprehend criminals, involvement in
civil cases and lackadaisical attitude towards work. Also, complaints were lodged against
the off-duty conduct of some police officers. The study found that the most paramount
channel of lodging complaints is through letters to the Director of the PPSB. Nonetheless,
some complainants rely on their lawyers or law firms to lodge complaints. Findings suggest
that the complaint resolution process is largely rigorous. When complaints are lodged, they
are first processed, investigators are assigned to investigate the issues and the issues are
dealt with based on the outcome of the investigation. In light of the findings gathered from
this study, it is recommended that the bureau optimises the use of other media, particularly
social media, and emails for receiving complaints because the over-reliance on official
letters, might inconvenience other complainants. Other digital channels could also be
adapted to support the complaint process in order to minify police misconduct.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Strategic Communication, School of Communication
and Media Studies, submitted to the school of Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy
(Business Communication) in the University of Education, Winneba
JANUARY, 2023