Apply Intelligence-Led Approaches to Policing - ACP Ampah-Bennin

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr David Ampah-Bennin, Volta Regional Police Commander, on Wednesday said the increase in crime sophistication and syndication should spur on service personnel to adopt intelligence-led approaches to policing in the combat of crime. He noted that intelligence gathering, one of the cardinal ingredients in policing, was being relegated to the background, insisting that servicemen re-energised themselves to pick up the gauntlet. ACP Ampah-Bennin said this in an interaction with Officers and ranks of the Ghana Police Service in Hohoe Divisional Police and District during his two-day familiarisation tour of some districts in the northern part of the Volta region. He noted that crime was becoming highly sophisticated and syndicated in view of the global technological advancement, and urged service personnel to re-orient themselves to overcome these challenges. Mr Ampah-Bennin advised servicemen and women to revive and supervise the establishment of neighbourhood watch committees to assist in the combating of crime in the area. He warned that recalcitrant service personnel who dented the image of the service would not be spared disciplinary action. �As well, indolence, extortion and all other acts that would bring the profession into disrepute would be severelyh punished�, he added. The Regional Police Commander called on servicemen and women to institutionalize endurance walks every two weeks covering at least a distance of five miles to make them smarter and healthier as well as enable them to overcome stress, depression and other ailments relating to inactivity. Mr Ampah-Bennin urged them to nurture and sustain a healthy police-civilian relationship, as policing the world over now depends on a forming allies with the civilian publics He urged personnel to be proactive and innovative in the discharge of their duties so they could be appreciated by the general public. Mr Ampah-Bennin assured them that the police administration was working hard to solve the pervasive accommodation problems, remuneration and better conditions of service. He called on traditional authorities, district assemblies and non-governmental organisations to come on board and complement government�s efforts in equipping the service. Chief Superintendent of Police, Emmanuel Appiah, Hohoe Divisional Police Commander, on behalf of the police personne, pledged a renewed policing based on strict principles and the instilling of sanity in their operational areas. Service personnel at an open forum cited the non-replacement of transferred servicemen and women as a phenomenon that was exerting pressure on the rest of station personnel. He also mentioned inadequate office and residential accommodation, and logistical constraints including the use of archaic communication systems as areas that required the immediate attention of the authorities.