Crime Rate in Accra Went Down By 22% in 2014

Crime rate in Accra reduced in 2014, as against the rate in 2013, senior police officials reported. In 2014, a total of 847 major crimes were recorded, compared to 1085 cases in 2013; representing 21.93 per cent reduction rate.
The Accra Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr Christian Tetteh Yohuno, attributed the reduction in crime to the adoption and deployment of various operational strategies.
Addressing a meeting of all divisional and district commanders under the regional command in Accra yesterday, he said, “this was achieved due to our strategies and measures in the area of intelligence gathering, visibility and patrols, rapid response to emergency situations, traffic management and public order management.”
He said the number of robbery cases came down from 255 in 2013 to 125 in 2014, while murder cases also reduced from 45 the previous year to 39 in 2014.
Rape incidents also dropped from 157 to 142, with defilement also reducing from 514 cases in 2013 to 142 in 2014. However, the number of abduction cases increased from 114 in 2013 to 120 in 2014.
Mr Yohuno announced that the regional command was set to launch ‘operation no room for armed robbers’ as part of its strategies to reduce crime in 2015.
“The year 2015 looks brighter and we will launch and wage a special war on armed robbers in Accra. The police will be more robust and will ruthlessly clamp down on the activities of armed robbers for people to go about their businesses peacefully.”
He urged the public to partner the police by volunteering information that would lead to the arrest of such criminals.
During 2014, he said, the police also exhibited a high sense of professionalism in handling public order events in the area of demonstrations, carnivals, labour unrests, festivals and chieftaincy issues.
In line with the 1994 Public Order Act, he said, the police, between January 3 and December 30, 2014 managed about 70 special events, including the simultaneous demonstration by members of the Trades Union Congress across the country on July 24, 201;, the demonstration by Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) and three emergency summits on Ebola by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
In 2015, Mr Yohuno said, the Accra Regional Command would re-establish its land guard unit to deal with persons who used offensive weapons to protect lands.
“This is because the activities of land guards have become one of the bases for murder among traditional leaders and families in the region,” he said.
Answering questions on new forms of crime in the region, the Korle Bu District Police Commander, Superintendent of Police, Mr Peter Yembila, stated that the use of physical attacks was no more lucrative as a result of the intensification of police patrols.
“People have now resorted to ‘mind attacks’ to defraud unsuspecting people. They call their victims and introduce themselves as long-time friends and then tell you about a lucrative business in the oil industry,” he said.
The victims were then made to part with large sums of money ranging between GH¢1,000 and GH¢50,000 on the pretext of serving as agents of an item or substance used for the drilling of oil which was in short supply.
“The victims would receive a call from someone with a foreign accent who claims that he is on the oil rig in the Western Region and needs the item urgently but soon after parting with the money, all those phone numbers go off.”
Apart from using online shopping websites to dupe prospective car buyers, the Kaneshie District Commander, Superintendent of Police, Mr Fleance Adika, said there was also an increase in the robbery of occupants of private vehicles in traffic.
“Two persons walk side by side the moving car and they will alert you that your car is either leaking or there is fire under it but when you stop to check, they quickly open your car and loot it.”
He, therefore, urged the public to be cautions and report such criminals to the police.