Bullion Van Attack: Legal practitioner cautions Police against compelling CCTV footage owner to give up video

A private legal practitioner, Mr. Justice Abdulai has urged the Police Service to secure information relating to the attacks on the bullion van that occurred on Monday via other means, instead of compelling the owner of the CCTV footage to produce it. According to him, this is important to ensure the safety of the said owner.

In an exclusive interview with Dennislaw News, Mr. Abdulai noted that although the Police can resort to court orders or subpoenas to secure the video that will aid in its investigations, there is a need to consider a moral obligation that emphasizes the personal safety of the owner of the CCTV footage.

The Interior Minister, Hon. Ambrose Dery told Accra-based TV3 that the Police had notified him of the unwillingness of the man to release the video footage which could help identify the criminals. 

The Minister is reported to have said that “This matter should be dealt with quickly as possible. It happened in the daytime but they raise an issue that I think I want to use this forum to appeal. They say there is a person who owns a CCTV in the vicinity. The Police are asking that they be given the recording of the CCTV but there was resistance from the owner. I want to use this medium to appeal to him to cooperate and to appeal to all those people who were in the vicinity to assist the Police on whatever description or whatever information that they have to enable us to track them.”

However, Mr. Abdulai believes that it is a little too late to rely on this window for the information the Police needs. He explained that in the absence of a definite legal framework to govern the use of CCTV cameras in Ghana, the man retains ownership of the video footage. However, a court order could compel the said owner to release it for the Police investigation.

“Because there is no legal framework governing the use of CCTV cameras in Ghana at the moment, what it means is that whatever a person captures is his private property. If any institution needs that particular information or document that is captured, whether, in the fight against crime or any other thing, it has to be done within the framework of the law. Usually, a person can ordinarily be compelled to release this information by the use of the law, whether by going to the court and obtaining an order because of the necessity of obtaining that information.

“Beyond that, I believe that morality and our collective wellbeing should be a reason for a person who has captured this information to release it. But naturally, if you understand how crime works in this country, the person with this information doesn’t trust the system to protect him now, because if he releases this information, the criminals involved have their friends and their colleagues who are still at large. They can easily pounce on him, and he could be in danger.” 

He further added that the fact that this information is available to the public is presently problematic. According to him, the owner of the footage can plead a case for personal safety, in the unlikely instance that the Police file a case of obstructing justice against him for withholding the information.

“This shouldn’t have been in the public domain in the first place. This could have been done backstage, in order not to allow the identity of the person to be out there for us to be discussing at this moment. It puts his life in danger and it puts his family in danger, and that is not something you will like to do, particularly in the fight against crime.“

“This is the reason why he is refusing to release the information because he knows that he cannot trust anyone for his protection. It is not because he doesn’t want to help. As to whether that can b seen as obstruction of justice, I think it is something we can all fight in court. If you charge someone with obstruction, you should be able to prove that his conduct amounted to a breach of the law. It is within the law for a person to protect himself against all forms of criminality and all forms of attack. It is a good defense in law”

Mr. Abdulai has thus urged the Police to consider other alternatives, including relying on their criminal informants within the area or leverage on the fact that some people may have taken video footage with their phones since the attack took place during the day in the full glare of other people. He asserts that although it will not be as fast as the CCTV footage would have allowed, it is a safer option that does not put anyone in harm’s way.