ABSTRACT
Professional policing was introduced by the British Colonial Authorities to the Gold Coast in 1821 (https://www.ghanapolice.info/history.htm). Historically, in 1874, the British who were then ruling the Gold Coast had a big war with the Ashantis named the “Sagrenti War.” The British who were also ruling Nigeria and the West Indies at the time brought 700 Hausa men from Nigeria and some other troops from the West Indies to reinforce the existing number at that time to invade Kumasi when they found it difficult to defeat the Ashantis. Most of these men were killed by the Ashantis. After the war, the remainder of these men was mobilized by the British to form the then Gold Coast Constabulary. These men were trained by the British to use “brute force” in dealing with the public while serving the interest of the colonial administration. In 1894, 400 men out of the existing constabulary formed the Gold Coast Police by an ordinance that was promulgated in that year. This number increased to 22,129 as on February 2008. The service has a pyramidal organogram headed by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) who is appointed by the President of Ghana.
