Crime & Safety

Sheriff's Office Donates Vests to Ghana Police

Department may eventually offer training to African counterparts

The Essex County Sheriff’s Office last week donated the first of more than 130 surplus bulletproof vests to representatives of the nation of Ghana.

The vests were presented during a ceremony at Veterans Courthouse to Kwaku Amo, executive secretary general of the Council of Ghanaian Associations of New Jersey, and Dr. Zachary Yamba, former president of Essex County College. They will be used by officers in the nation’s Nima District.

The vests, which are still usable, were donated after the sheriff’s office received upgrades through state and federal grants.

Nima District officers police Accra, the nation’s capital, and the surrounding region.  They have won many prestigious international awards for best police practices.

Following the presentation, Sheriff Armando Fontoura, Amo and Yamba discussed the possibility of the Essex County Sheriff’s Office training Ghanaian police officers in ballistics, infrastructure security, narcotics investigations, bomb disposal methods and emergency management and homeland security.


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