Retrieving pick-pocketed items in Accra, Ghana - Part 5

What's this Akwaaba lady doing in this blog post? You've arrived to the end of the 5-part series of "Retrieving pick-pocketed items in Accra, Ghana". She's here to say "Akwaaba" like we say in Ghana. On the blog post at hand.

I was angling my way through work on Tuesday but I was distracted. I was recounting the story to various people and hoping I could close this "Retrieving pick-pocketed items" chapter. I was tired of going to the police station. I had been warned that these things could take a while. The police wanted to end the investigation and move on to other things. I was tired. I know you are also tired from reading 4 parts of an entertaining suspenseful story. This is part 5, the last part to join 1, 2, 3, and 4. You catch. You catch? As in, you catch say you catch? Okay, on to the story.


Sometime after 2:33pm, I received a call from the policeman who had been on the case. Or should we call him investigator? He's an Inspector though. I've seen his Facebook account. I once saw him use Tango to make a call on his PC. He's not eazzy koraa! If you see where this Eazzy reference is coming from by reading the earlier parts, you are observant paa! The policeman said I needed to bring a receipt proving that I bought the phone so trigger the payment from the Suspect. Chai! Do you have the receipt for the last phone you bought? Couldn't the investigator use this tweet below or just check my Facebook posts from March 6th? Is that not evidence enough that I had a phone that was stolen? Or the receipt is needed to show that I also didn't steal the phone from someone else? Chai! (Sorry, I am listening to this song at the moment, they say Chai in it).

I went to see the folks I had borrowed the phone from to get a receipt. In fact, if I had my new Google Nexus 4, I wouldn't be borrowing phones sef. We looked through the details of past phone purchases and couldn't find anything for an S2. We found one for a Samsung S3. ɛdeɛbɛn asɛm koraa ni! Am I going to go tell the Police that it was actually an S3? No, because it was really an S2. The S3 costs more anyway and the Suspect is not going to pay the 1400 GhC price. I had to give the folks time to look for the correct receipt. Eventually, details of the boughtment was found and I was going to get a invoice. I went to the Nima police station armed with the serial number for the phone and news of an invoice. "No, we can't use an invoice", the inspector said. "Anyone can create an invoice". Sigh. I called the folks and broke the news to them. "We can get a receipt tomorrow morning", I told the inspector. "Okay, bring it tomorrow then".

I was worried that the Suspect would be in the police cell another night after the ordeal of Monday. "He's been granted bail". Okay, I asked about bail granting in Ghana on Monday. I'll expantiate on this in a special police blog post. The Suspect was released on bail but he didn't have to pay anything. Someone just had to guarantee that when the Suspect was needed for the investigation, this someone will have to produce him. So "Dominique Mark" had gone home. Great! That's fine with me. I am going to get the phone! No, I didn't shout that to the policeman. I collected my stolen cards after I located and waited for the policeman who had them. He had been having a haircut across the road. I would have joined him but I just wanted to go home to watch the Barcelona-AC Milan game. If I had gotten home earlier, I could have bet on Lionel Messi scoring 2 goals with my newly found Bank of America cards. :-)

Yeah, I am ending the blog post now. No need to come back for the next post because a new day came.

Wednesday morning, I went for the receipt for the S2. I went to the police station and handed the receipt. The inspector handed me a brand new Samsung Galaxy S2 in a box. Complete with a charger, earphone, everything! It was a black S2 though. Cardinal Peter Turkson hadn't become the first Black Pope. Black smoke had become a popular thing to say. I'd take a black S2. I had to check the phone to make sure it was genuine though. Some of the people in the room started a debate on whether all "Made in China" goods are bad. One policeman was confident the phone was fake. I put the S2 on, and went through the various steps. Same steps I went through when I had my previous cool Android phone. I was satisfied.

I was given a statement to fill. This is the statement you write to end an investigation. You know how I like to write? So write I did. After about 10 lines, the policeman asked, "Ah, but you could have written just 2.33 sentences (okay, he didn't say 2.33 but you get the point :-D)". I finished off the statement with the sentence "I have received my stolen cards and a new phone and I would like the police to end this investigation". I had to wait for some small paper work and then I was free to go. I had a brand new spanking phone! Whether the Suspect was spanked for this phone to be bought matters a lot! I thanked the police force- 1 inspector, 2 policemen and 1 district commander. I told the police force I had even more respect for them now then. "Why, did you not respect us from before?", one of the ladies said. "You didn't want to give us your address because you were afraid the suspects and criminals might get it". I had a "disgraced" face after this pronouncement.

I sat down with 1 of the policemen and the district commander in her office. I introduced myself, the work I do and how I couldn't believe that the pick-pocketing had happened. I told them about Barcamps. Are you surprised? I want policemen at Barcamps, and even thieves. Okay, I didn't mean they should come steal from Barcamp attendees, abeg. I told them I want to get to the point whereby the GhanaThink Foundation organizes a Barcamp in Nima. Maybe not now, but somewhere down the line. At some point in this whole story, I wanted to talk to VIP's Lazzy (now Zeal) to come talk to the Suspect, to advise him to tell the truth and return my phone. Because Lazzy might be someone he would listen to. (Hey, we can put this in the movie okay?) I told the police I wanted to do what I could help prevent crime. Cos prevention is better than cure. The district commander jokingly said "If you prevent people from stealing, how will we find work? People must steal". LMAO. If you laughed too, clap for yourself. And clap for the police. And clap for the end of this story.

PS: I'd write a blog post about dealing with the police later.

Comments

Unknown said…
Ato, you should have slap that police that requested for proof of purchase. Ghana police paaa. This is crazy. SLAP SLAP SLAP.
Edem said…
lol. SLAP?? hehehe.
Anonymous said…
So a few questions: How do we know the new phone is not stolen and what happened to the original phone?
Unknown said…
Yes it is like African movie. Ato, Should have said "hey police office come close to me so I can slap you" "How dear you asked for proof of purchase" "this is rubbish".. lol
Ato said…
Barbara, come and slap the police officer cos I am definitely not trying that hehe
MIghTy African said…
The original phone was very likely sold and I doubt they could get that back from the buyer. The new phone is really new. So unless they jacked someone at the store after purchase, they most likely did not steal it.
Unknown said…
Whew! Ato, your epic story reminds me of a famous hymn 'this my story, this is my song' which is part of a chorus a hymn written by Fanny Crosby who was blind at the age of 6 weeks. I think we use to sing this in Presec back then. Ahhh, back to my reflection of this wonderful piece, you pulled it through by capturing all your audience attention in all five parts. Nice piece in all standards!

This story emphasize the relevance of social media in Ghana and across the status quo. It is without a doubt that blogging is here to stay and it's creating a platform for the young and old to express, and share their thoughts, feelings,culture, values and opinions to a Global audience. I love reading your blog solely on the fact that you're just versatile, lucid and flexible in dealing with issues relating to social justice, culture, hustle and bustle of daily living without limiting yourself to just a single topic of concern which I find it boring sometimes in other blogs I read. However, the dynamics in blogging cannot be underestimated either.

It was just awesome to see the collaborative effort by the inspector, the police, the district commander and yourself to pull this through. It confirms that, even without the needed infrastructure, the Ghana Police Service worked with the limited resources they have to help it's citizens. Lesson learnt, well wait, I just installed 'Wheres my Android' app on my phone. Aha, and also never to discard my tickets in the thrash until I can confirm access to an electronic copy online at anytime. It is also critical that reiterate that people needed to be patient when working with the Police Service and yield to their demanding questions and requests as it'll enable them make meaningful progress in their investigation. It was a good idea for you to have invited them to one of your future Barcamps; this will enable all and sundry to get some form of education on how the police service work and how citizens can contribute in their very small way of preventing and reporting crimes.

Ato, if there is a movie on this piece kindly lemme know. I'll be patiently waiting for the next blog on the police service. Once again, great post and by the way, did you have your "Waakye Wednesday" or the investigation was just enough to prevent you from your regular norm on this day, hehe.."Oh My", just realized my lunch break was over. One more thing, I think the reason you're not allowed to have paragraphs in your statement was to avoid any changes or additions from being made in the future, since people change their thoughts all the time. I'll end my little comment here#MoreVim#
MIghTy African said…
Thanks for your comment Emmanuel. I couldn't have said what you said in the first couple of paragraphs better.
The police collabo worked really well. But then again, I was somewhat scared of the police so I had to listen and work with them well. They enforce law and order. They can literally waste your time if you want that to happen.

About the movie, we've been talking about it. Let's see what comes out. Lol @ Waakye Wednesday. I don't want the blame this case so making me miss Waakye on Wednesday. Cos I've missed it before for non-important reasons :-)

More vim!
Enock said…
At long last, no Suspense. Thanks to the police force.
Ato, did the police show you the receipt of the new phone?
Sidney said…
Awesome Ato....loved it thoroughly
Cheryl said…
This happened in Ghana? Receipts and all? Hehe! But honestly never knew our police system really does work. Shush! Don't tell them I said this. ;-)
Unknown said…
What if the new phone gets stolen?
Do you have a receipt? :)
Ato said…
lol, nah o! I am going to ask the police if they have one.
Ato said…
Receipts and all. And no, the police didn't show me the receipt. Hmm, I go ask them
Ato said…
you are welcome Sidney.

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