Ghana might witness more violent incidents involving extremely desperate individuals and armed criminals willing to fight the Police Service in the coming years, if its officers are not equipped with the requisite logistics needed to effectively deliver on its mandate, Security Analyst, Kwesi Anning has warned.
His caution follows Inspector General of Police, David Apeatu’s lamentation about the Service lacking basic safety equipment to keep its officers safe from attacks from armed men.
Mr. Apeatu had stated that, the current logistical challenges makes it difficult for the Police to fight crime effectively and as well protect its men.
Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Anning called on various stakeholders to support the Service with the requisite equipment needed to protect its officers or risk experiencing more violent crimes in future.
“We need to take the IGP’s appeal as a passionate and desperate appeal for help and support… Almost everything that is for fun, which relates to alcohol, we will get someone to fund but nobody wants to fund security, nobody wants to put a little bit of money into funding the Ghana Police Service and if we don’t take this appeal seriously, we will witness desperate individuals, criminal networks and gangs well-armed, willing and prepared to fight the Police Service and to say life is not worth living anyway, so I will commit a crime and I am willing and prepared to take up arms against those who will represent authorities of the state and when we reach that point, then I can think we are getting into extremely dangerous waters and I think we are almost on the verge of collapse.”
Mr. Anning pointed out that, support from stakeholders could also come in the form of useful information that could help Police Officers easily identify and arrest suspects.
“The support that I am asking for and looking forward to does not have to be necessarily be big money. It can also be just moral boosters. A simple word of encouragement, a simple signal, but even more important is the sharing of sensitive or proactive information. Criminals live within our community. People know them, they hire rooms, they behave in funny ways, people visit them at odd hours. Can we find a casting and labeling relationship in which ordinary people can share this information, but it also means it is contingent on the service to also behave in a manner that also generates this trust and embellishes people’s desire to share this information.”
There have been several incidents where police officers have been shot dead or injured in gun battle with robbery suspects.
About five policemen have been shot in line of duty over the last three months, with the recent one being the killing of a police constable at Lapaz in Accra on Thursday.
On Thursday, two armed men were shot in broad day light at Lapaz in Accra when they attempted foiling a robbery attack.
Barely a month ago, a Policeman believed to be in his 30s was also shot dead by two armed men. The officer, Michael Kporye, was shot in the face and in the chest at Tulaku near Michel Camp, in the Greater Accra Region.
A few weeks later, Lance Corporal Kwaku Mensah, who was stationed at Anwiankwanta in the Bekwai Municipality, sustained several gunshot wounds when gunmen attacked a vehicle he was traveling on.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
