Inspector General of Police, George Akuffo Dampare, has denied claims that he has created a ‘Special Dampare Unit’ in the Police Service that reports only to him.
It was alleged by COP George Alex Mensah, that the IGP had created this special unit for purposes of special operations.
According to him, the unit consists of persons who had beards, wore earrings and were not properly attired. They are also alleged to be untouchable and report directly to the IGP.
But refuting the claim, IGP Dampare said there was no such unit and urged the public to treat the claim with the contempt it deserves.
“Honourable chair, there is no unit called Special Dampare Unit. It’s a figment of people’s imagination, and I think the point must be made,” he clarified.
He explained that, currently as part of a decentralization agenda by the Police Service, such intelligence units work under their regional commanders and report to them not to the IGP.
“The second point is that there is a police intelligence directorate which complements police operations. And what has happened in the past is that we were having challenges when it comes to these operations and we needed to top up with our intelligence and the intelligence were at only the national level.
“So my colleagues and I once again worked together and we decided to decentralize that unit such that each of the 25 policing commands will have their own intelligence units that shape intelligence gathering to form the operations of the region.
“So all those units are under the various regional commanders, and then they also work in tandem with the National Director General in charge of Intelligence. They don’t report to me,” he said.