Ghana Police, New York Police Department to Exchange Officers
By: Isaac Boamah Darko, New York
New York City — Inspector‑General of Police Christian Tetteh Yohuno paid a high‑level visit to the New York City Police Department (NYPD) Headquarters at One Police Plaza on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, holding bilateral talks with NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and senior members of her executive command team as part of an ongoing U.S. law‑enforcement partnership tour.
The two sides discussed an expanded partnership that would pair Ghana’s Police Service with the NYPD on technology‑driven policing, counterterrorism, intelligence‑led operations and urban crime prevention. The visit included a live demonstration of NYPD capabilities — from integrated camera networks and real‑time crime centres to its fleet of drones — and a guided tour of the NYPD Joint Operations and Counterterrorism Centres.
“Seeing how the NYPD employs drone and camera technology to prevent crime in real time underscores how critical technology has become to modern policing. The Ghana Police Service is committed to leveraging similar smart policing tools to make our communities safer, more secure, and more resilient,” IGP Yohuno said after the demonstration.
A proposed officer‑exchange and liaison arrangement was one of the most significant outcomes of the meeting. Under the initiative the NYPD would explore assigning an officer to the Ghana Police Service Headquarters in Accra through its International Liaison Unit, while the Ghana Police Service would station a liaison officer at the NYPD’s Regional Intelligence Support Center in New York. Officials said the placements are intended to strengthen continuous intelligence sharing, operational coordination and mutual professional development.
Commissioner Tisch briefed the Ghanaian delegation on how the NYPD integrates multiple data streams — video, sensors, analytics and aerial surveillance — into tactical decision‑making and rapid response. She praised Ghana’s regional leadership on security issues and signalled the NYPD’s willingness to expand collaboration through training exchanges, subject‑matter workshops and operational partnerships.
The New York meetings followed an earlier engagement at the FBI New York Field Office, where IGP Yohuno and FBI officials discussed cybercrime, transnational fraud investigations and counterterrorism cooperation. U.S. Embassy Accra and the FBI Legal Attaché Office in Accra facilitated both visits, officials said, highlighting the widening scope of U.S.–Ghana security cooperation.
Why the ties matter
Ghana has in recent years emphasized modernization of its Police Service amid urbanisation, rising complexity in cyber‑enabled financial crime and persistent transnational security threats across West Africa. Ghanaian officials said the NYPD engagement will help accelerate capacity building in investigative technology, fusion‑centre operations and use of unmanned aerial systems for situational awareness.
For the NYPD and U.S. partners, the relationship offers improved bilateral intelligence flow on crimes that cross borders — including fraud schemes and networks that exploit diaspora communities — and strengthens cooperation on travel‑watching, threat assessment and joint training.
Cautions and next steps
Civil liberties advocates and legal experts note that technology transfers and expanded surveillance capabilities raise privacy and accountability questions. Observers urged that any operational cooperation include clear data‑sharing protocols, legal safeguards, oversight mechanisms and training in human‑rights‑compliant policing.
Officials from both agencies said the exchange remains exploratory and that specific modalities, legal frameworks and timelines must still be negotiated. They expect working groups to flesh out details in coming months, including curriculum for joint training, technical assistance needs, and the legal agreements required for intelligence sharing and personnel exchanges.
The Ghana Police Service said it will present a detailed requirements list to U.S. partners and that further visits and technical assessments are planned to tailor the assistance to Ghana’s operational and legislative environment.
The meetings in New York mark a noticeable deepening of practical cooperation between a major U.S. municipal police force and a West African national police service, and officials described the talks as a potential model for future city‑to‑state policing cooperation across international lines.