Mr Ambrose Dery, Minister for Interior has called on the public to accord officers of the Police Service same empathy they give ordinary citizens when they fall victims of criminal acts.
“Am inviting Ghanaians to show the same sympathy they show witnesses and victims of crime to police who become victims. Support the Police. Know that they are our friends, not our enemies”, he said when he opened the 2019 National Police Conference at Sogakope in the South Tongu District of the Volta Region.
Mr Dery said moral support from members of the public was required to effectively manage crime.
The Minister said the Ghana Police Service remained one of the best in the world, and must be offered reliable information on time to deliver.
“Our Police Service is one of the best in the world and has the capacity to confront any situation that may arise. All citizens must support the Service with credible information regarding criminals timely. The Police cannot do it alone unless they have our support”, he said.
Mr Dery assured officers that government would continue to provide needed logistics, and asked that personnel be trained to effectively work with them.
“Some personnel don’t feel comfortable wearing the bulletproof vests… we need to train them to be comfortable in them”, he said.
The Minister said Government was committed to resourcing the Service beyond its budget allocation, and had initiated residential and office accommodation projects in addition to the provision of vehicles and communication equipment for effective policing.
He also emphasised that the welfare of personnel remained Government’s priority, having cleared the backlog of promotions, and providing compensation packages for officers who fell in line of duty.
The three-day conference is on the theme “Strengthening Discipline and Supervision for Effective Crime Control”, and was attended by among others, Regional Police Commanders, and heads of sister security agencies in the Region.
Mr James Oppong-Boanuh, Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) said with the upsurge in “serious” crimes such as kidnapping, terrorism, cyber fraud and money laundering, police visibility would be revived, and would deploy more personnel on the streets to help reduce crime.
“The Police Visibility initiative which gathered steam when it was launched and attracted positive feedback from the general public needs to be resuscitated to achieve its ultimate goal of crime reduction.
“The concept is being revamped to put many personnel on the streets to create public reassurance and reduce the fear of crime”, he stated.
The IGP also said with commitment to its duty to guarantee the civil liberties of citizens, the Service would “deal decisively” with persons or group of persons that engaged in vigilantism.
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