The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Paul Tawiah Quaye, has lamented over the acute accommodation problem facing the Ghana Police Service (GPS), saying that a total of 6,000 police personnel have no accommodation, while a larger number of them are temporarily staying in makeshift structures, adding that 50% of the affected officers live in Tema.

He noted that the suspension of the recruitment exercise, even though painful, was necessary, because “the Police Service is equally in critical need of about 2,150 additional police personnel nationwide, to enable us cope with the ever-increasing demand for policing.

“However, our accommodation problem is more critical, since a total of 6,000 personnel are not accommodated at all, whilst a larger number are temporarily housed in ‘makeshift’ premises.”

The IGP was speaking at a Greater Accra Regional Security Committee sensitisation seminar, which was organised at the instance of the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashitey, at Tema last Tuesday, to sensitise the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Security committees on security issues, as well as plan on how best to eliminate the actual threats to security, peace and stability confronting the region.”

He revealed that in spite of efforts being put in place by the Police Service, for example, the creation of specialised police units such as police/military patrol teams, panther striking forces, rapid response, monitors and stoppers among others, the Greater Accra Region continues to record increasing levels of crime.

The IGP explained that in 2008, the Accra/Tema police recorded 850 robberies, and in 2009 a comparative lesser number of 513 cases.

“For this year 2009, a total of 335 suspected armed robbers were arrested in the region, while a few others died during confrontations with the police. Over 80 of these suspected and arrested armed robbers have confessed to their involvement in other previous robberies,” he said, adding, “A total of 133 assorted firearms were seized from these suspected armed robbers.”

He noted that police strategies, including intelligence-led operations and the reward system for informants, had significantly contributed to the apprehension of many of these armed robbers, some of whom were caught red-handed.

He said that in community policing, the police work hand in hand with members of the communities, using local knowledge and resources and deploying familiar strategies to provide security and maintain law and order, with the aim of solving security problems within the communities, but has not been very effective.

However, the service is re-packaging the concept for implementation, by appointing Police Liaison Officers, who are currently undergoing training in a trainers programme to help expand and decentralise this approach into the various communities.

The Greater Accra Regional Minister warned that the government would not allow Ghana to be governed by landguards whose activities are threatening the peace of the country.

The Minister continued that these landguards and armed robbers have turned slum communities within the region into their hideouts, from where they strike as and when they like, and assured Ghanaians that the government would do whatever it takes to bring the situation under control.

He called on the security high commands in the country, to bring those few security personnel whose conducts have, one way or the other, dragged the names of these institutions into the mud, to book.

“Whilst commending most of our security men and women for demonstrating a high level of integrity, it is unfortunate to note that a few of them have acted unprofessionally, and this in some cases have stained the hard earned reputation of our security agencies,” he noted, and added, “Let me urge the security high command to flush out the misfits without fear or favour, since they deserve no sympathy.”

Welcoming the guests to the Metropolis, Robert Kempes Ofosuware, Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) enumerated some of the phenomenal threats and dangers to the security of the Harbour City.

He said the high incidence of armed robbery, theft and physical assaults, the high incidence of prostitution and associated HIV/AIDS, narcotic drugs business (port-related) and drug abuse, over population and congestion, sex tourism and the menace of landguards, was a worry to his administration.

Source: The Ghanaian Chronicle

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