The Inspector General (IGP) of Police, COP David Asante-Apeatu has been directed to proceed on leave ahead of his retirement on August 14, 2019.
President Nana Akufo-Addo has asked the Deputy Inspector General of Police, James Oppong-Boanuh, to serve in an acting capacity until a substantive IGP is appointed.
His retirement follows a relatively turbulent year for the police service as they had to contend with criticisms over the unresolved Takoradi girls kidnapping case, the indictment on the security services following the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election and high-profile cases of police brutality.
The most recent controversy has seen him and the CID boss, Maame Tiwaa Addo-Danquah facing contempt charges over their refusal to comply with a bail order for Gregory Afoko, a suspect in the 2015 murder of the Upper East Region New Patriotic Party chairman.
David Asante Apeatu first became IGP of the Ghana Police Service on January 25, 2017.
Before his appointment, he was the head of the General ICT Department at the Police Headquarters as well as the head of the Marine Police.
He had also served as the Director-General in charge of Research and Director-General of the Police CID.
Outside Ghana, he was appointed Director of the Specialised Crime and Analysis (SCA) Unit at the INTERPOL headquarters in Lyon France in 2017.
He also worked at the Sarajevo Police Academy as an Instructor in Human Dignity, Police Ethics and Criminal Investigations under the auspices of the United Nations Task Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1997 to 1998.
David Asante Apeatu was the team leader in a successful homicide investigation under the request of the United Nations Mission in Liberia and the team leader in investigations into the mass murder of more than 50 people in The Gambia.
During his tenure as IGP, he reassigned a number of his officers.
