Media stampeding police in T’adi girls kidnap case – Prof. Antwi-Danso
Security analyst Prof. Vladimir Antwi-Danso has accused the media of stampeding the police in the investigation of the three kidnapped girls in Takoradi, Western Region.
The three girls: Priscilla Blessing Bentum, Priscilla Mantebea Koranchie, Ruth Love Quayson have been missing for almost a year now.
The case has been an albatross on the neck of the Ghana Police Service, but barely a year on, the prime suspect, Samuel Udeotuk-Wills led the police to two different locations where a total of four human remains were retrieved.
The police is carrying out forensic tests to determine whether or not the body parts found belong to the three girls.
Since the girls went missing, the media have been at the forefront trying to keep the public informed about developments regarding police investigations amongst others.
It is on the back of these developments that Prof. Antwi-Danso is faulting the media for the manner in which they have reported the matter so far.
According to the security analyst who was speaking on TV3’s The Key Points programme on Saturday, the media coverage on the missing girls interferes with the work of the police and paints a negative picture about the police force.
“I have said that the way we are handling the situation especially from the media point of view is wrong. We seem to be stampeding the police as if as it were, we know what they should do.
“So they coming out for example to say we know where the girls are, we will find them, they may be right in thinking that the lead that they had was leading them to somewhere,” he said.
Prof. Antwi-Danso noted that in as much as the media has the responsibility to question institutions like the police, it must be done in a way that does not portray the police in a bad light.
“You lead the national psyche against an institution as if they are incompetent.”
“The media sets the agenda…but if you are setting the agenda, you set it in such a way that will help to resolve [a challenge].”
“Yes, the police falter, but we need to help them.”
“No matter what the fault is, we should help the police. It’s like every other act, we want to interrogate them,” Prof. Antwi-Danso observed.
He further explained that kidnap cases or any crime of this nature usually takes time to be unraveled, and that the public needs to be patient with the police and allow them do their work to bring finality to the case.
“With forensics, you are able to trace a crime that occurred thirty years ago. It looks as though over here we don’t understand the issues involved in tracking miscreants and bringing them to book. You may get a lead, people are arraigned in court and all of a sudden you see that you are wrong.
”My take on this is that it has not been properly handled. Again, we don’t understand a lot of things,” Prof. Antwi-Danso stressed.
By Irene Amesimeku| 3news.com|Ghana
