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The police administration, as part of measures to seal the �okro� mouths of some police personnel, who normally leak information to the media on international peace-keeping operations, has embarked on a number of workshops for its personnel throughout the country. The administration, through its International Relations Department, warned that the administration would not spare those who portray the name of the police negatively to the outside world. The Director in Charge of Police International Relations Department, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Owiredu Nkansah, lamented that the way personnel disclose information to the media on peace-keeping operations was not the best, saying �the Police Service has nothing to hide from those who qualify to go for peace-keeping duties elsewhere.� The workshop, according to the International Relations� Director, was meant to sensitise the police on procedures involved in the application of peace-keeping duties, and current development on certain changes, so that when they are well-informed and educated, they would stay away from the tendency of selling the administration negatively. ACP Nkansah, who was addressing personnel of the service in Kumasi recently, said those police officers who had relatives or friends in the media, disclosed wrong information to them, without caring how it affected the Police Service. The Assistant Commissioner of Police also said the media, on their part, sometimes fail to do due diligence on such information, and rather publish them without cross-checking from the appropriate quarters. He took the police officers through the steps one goes through before engaging in peace-keeping operations. ACP Nkansah outlined the three main issues in the application of the peace-keeping operations, namely, general issues on peace-keeping, extension of duty operations, and conduct of examinations for those applying. He explained that before the service engages any police officer in peace-keeping operations, a request must first come from the United Nations Department of Peace-Keeping Operations. ACP Nkansah further explained that before one could be selected, the pre-requisite qualification was that the officer applying must have served the Ghana Police Service for, at least, eight years, and have knowledge in the English Language, because that was the official language of the UN. Additional qualification, according to the Director, was that the officer applying must have an unblemished record for at least three years. After collation and vetting, as revealed by the Director, the names are forwarded to New York, headquarters of the UN, adding �the Department of Peace-Keeping Operations has nothing to do with the deployment of personnel, everything comes from the UN, and when you are nominated, we tell your commander to inform you.� Later, in an interview with The Chronicle, ACP Nkansah disclosed that sometimes the problem facing the police administration was the acquisition of visas for those nominated for peace-keeping, saying currently, there were 300 police personnel standing by, because of the refusal of the issuance of visas to non-Arab citizens by the Sudanese government. According to him, the police administration was sometimes compelled to extend the mandate of those currently serving in Sudan, because of the fear of losing Ghana�s position to another country in peace-keeping operations. �But, when it happens this way, those nominated and are standing by accuse the police hierarchy of taking bribe to maintain those already there, which is not the case.�