The officers requested that the lady, who was in a ride-hailing vehicle, give them her bag so that they could search it but she refused.
A video of the altercation between the police and the young woman shared on X (formerly known as Twitter) by Sikaofficial showed her insisting that the police had no right to search her bag.
“I was in a bolt right now and a police driver stopped us, I thought he was even coming to check the driver but he wants to check my bag. And I asked him why he wanted to search my bag, whether I fit a description and he said no,” she said.
She indicated that the policeman told her that they wanted to search her bag because she looked suspicious.
One of the officers reportedly allowed her to record the situation, but the woman resisted the search.
This infuriated another officer who could be heard saying, “'No please’, you would not allow police to search your bag… turn, turn, turn to the nearest police station”.
The officers sat in the car and headed for the Grede Estate Police Station in Teshie, a suburb of Accra.
What does the law say about the search?
It is important to note that the police officers in question did not necessarily commit any crime or act unprofessionally.
The laws of the country indicate that the police cannot and should not in any circumstance dip their hand into your personal belongings, especially your luggage and pocket, with or without a warrant without a court order,
However, when the police have a court warrant or suspect a criminal activity at their own discretion, you need to calmly assist them in searching and confirm any form of content you carry.
Watch a video of the incident below:
A lady in a Bolt car narrates how she was stopped by some Ghanaian police officers who requested to search her bag.
One officer allowed her to record the situation, while another was allegedly aggressive and threatened to handcuff her and send her to the police station if she… pic.twitter.com/uHAyeM31wh
Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.
Watch the launch of the 2023 GhanaWeb Excellence Awards on GhanaWeb TV below:
Scene of the incident