Strengthening Professionalism and Accountability within the Ghana Police Service, using Identities, Norms and Narratives

Background

The Government of Ghana has announced an ambitious objective to turn the Ghana Police Service into a world class force over the next decade. To help with this objective, and with the full approval of the Inspector General of the Ghana Police Service, the research team, led by Dr Donna Harris, is carrying out research to improve accountability in the traffic police in Ghana.

The strategy

Reducing corruption is difficult: many past efforts around the world have failed. The strategy we will be investigating is based on recent research by the Nobel Laureate Professor George Akerlof. The key idea is that to change people’s behaviour it helps to give them a new role or ‘identity’, and new narratives that convey a sense of purpose. We will be running a new training programme aimed at creating a new identity for the traffic officers or the 'vanguards of the Ghana Police Service'. Support networks will be established for the trained officers to reinforce the new identity and provide a platform for the officers to share stories and discuss obstacles in their daily duty and work together to co-create solutions. Senior officers who have been trained will also act as role models and mentors to junior officers to strengthen this support network. The training will be co-created with the Ghana Police Service and advised by Inspector Bruno Schettini from the Brazilian Federal Highway Police who has successfully created the first National Police Academy in Brazil. The training method will be interactive and immersive using insights from Behavioural Economics and Psychology. The focus will be on tackling conflict of interests, norms, and multiple social identities, and how to maintain professionalism and ethical standards when faced with these challenges.