Thursday, 9 August 2018

Do Victims Of Armed Robbers Not Deserve Justice Too?

In many ways, the work of Ghanaian police units trained to combat armed robbers, is far more dangerous than that of soldiers in conventional  war theatres today. Soldiers battle enemy troops trained to kill or be killed themselves - and are thus ready to kill when confronted by opposing troops threatening them. Nothing complicated  about that, thank goodness - especially when the military is tasked to wipe out super-ruthless terrorists on society's behalf.

On Civvy Street, on the other hand, the  horrible reality and truth of the matter, is that Ghanai/an police officers never quite know whether or not armed robbers they are called upon to apprehend, in crime-scene-emergencies, by the  public, are drug-crazed criminals prepared to kill. Thus, theirs is an incredibly dangerous and stressful job that nonetheless needs doing to ensure public safety in our democracy - which desperately needs to maintain its global reputation as a haven of  peace and stability in sub-Saharan Africa: to attract job-creating investors.

That is why we must not be so quick to condemn police officers forced by   momentary operational exigencies to shoot to kill in live fire-fights with armed robbers - many of whom skillfully hide their criminal activities from family members and networks of friends: who invariably vouch for them and unfairly  condemn police response teams risking life and limb to keep law-abiding citizens safe. We must never forget the hapless surviving victims of  armed robbers killed by the police - for they too deserve justice. Haaba.

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