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Fourteen Police Officers died in line of duty this year, an increase of six over the eight lives lost by the Ghana Police Service last year.

They include two Police Chief Inspectors and two Police Inspectors. The rest are three General Sergeants, four General Corporals and three General Lance Corporals.

The officers were shot in response to robbery attacks, knocked down by vehicles and others were involved accidents.

This was made known at the 2020 Police Memorial Day, Flag Raising and wreath-laying ceremony for the fourteen officers at the National Training School, Tesano in Accra on Monday.

Police Memorial Day is a special day set aside every year to celebrate serving officers who lost their lives while performing lawful duty; whether the death occurred in Ghana or abroad such as peace keeping mission grounds.

The day is also meant to honour the past, shape the future and also recognize the enormous contributions and sacrifices Police officers make for Ghana at the peril of their lives.

The Ghana Police Service has various ways in its statutes to compensate surviving families of officers including financial rewards and in some exceptional cases, affected officers are promoted posthumously.

In an Exhortation and call to Remembrance, ACP Very Reverend Frank D. Twum-Baah, Chaplin in Charge, Ghana Police Church at 37, noted that Ghana was peaceful because many gave up their lives as sacrifice for all.

ACP Very Rev. Twum-Baah, who is the Second in Command, Religious Affairs Department, GPS, noted that not all were called on to die heroically or sacrificially.

He said officers who lost their lives in “the war against crime, fighting for us were called to serve the country and in the process, they paid the ultimate price.”

According to him, the country owed them a “debt of gratitude on this memorial day.”

ACP Very Rev. Twum-Baah said “memorial days remind us all that some of us would have to sacrifice for others.”

According to him, as officers’ strive to fight crime, there were other groups who also conspire to kill them.

ACP Very Rev. Twum-Baah noted that committed officers wanted to stand to fight wrongs in the society, adding that the most alert, sensitive, talented and promising are usually the first to volunteer for the front line duty.

He said “Ghana’s Police come to mind when we talk about sacrifice,” adding that “they enter the Police Service knowing fully that any day could be their last, yet they do it for the service of others.”

ACP Very Rev. Twum-Baah, said Jesus Christ was the supreme example of those who were willing to die in order that others might live and urged all t choose the vocation of sacrifice.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo lighted the perpetual flame and laid a wreath on behalf of the government and people of Ghana.

Inspector General of Police, Mr James Oppong Boanuh, laid a wreath on behalf of the Police Administration, while Mrs. Edwina Dogbe, laid a wreath on behalf of the bereaved families.

Nii Dodoo Nsaki II, Acting President, Ga Traditional Council, laid a wreath on behalf of the Chieftaincy Institution.

President Nana Addo later interacted with the bereaved families, toured the Cenotaph and signed the Remembrance Book.