Coming Soon: "Underbelly:" or A Journey to Law Enforcement?

My maternal grandfather was an Inspector in the Ghana Police Service, but that's no reason why I want to go into law enforcement.

In fact, let me be frank: I DON'T want to become a police officer in any sense of the term, but I am increasingly interested in pursuing a career that would involve my passion of regional integration/peace and security/ and law enforcement.

This is no out-of-the-blue desire; it's been burning for as long as I can remember. If I had to write a Ph.D right now, it would be on criminology, or looking at the underbelly of society. I've always had a visceral desire to combat injustice--just not sure how I would do it.

A few days ago, my Facebook status read like this:

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"Just finished watching another rivetting and exciting episode of the hit Australian true crime drama ''Underbelly:The Golden Mile''[on Fox Africa]. This is what fighting police corruption should be abt: the police bringing undercover officers/wire-tapping/and no less than a Royal Commission which mandates everyone to appear to testify, or face imprisonment. This is WHAT political will can achieve. Kudos, Australia!!:-)"


Just by watching this series alone, I have developed a fairly basic research agenda, which I intend deepening:

• the role of EUROPOL in globalising European law enforcement
• law enforcement in (West) Africa, including the role of the West Africa Police Chiefs committee organisation (WAPCCO)
• The role of INTERPOL in globalising justice
• law enforcement & regional integration

My upcoming piece on "Underbelly" is not likely to be an exhaustive account of Ghanaian society's ills, but a more reflective account on how I might someday eventually end up in law enforcement, and how the integration of my passion of comparative global regional integration can help make my mind up.

These include why I think our Ghana Police Service should act more as a Ghana Police Force and do away with what I think is an outdated concept of the Inspector-General of Police(IGP) who is appointed; and how our Ghana Police Service should do away with the regionalised system and become a fully-fledged FBI-like police force.