Armed robbery cases in Accra drops -Police

Armed robberies, which used to be recorded averagely about 13 cases a week in Accra have dropped substantially to about three a week.

There has also been a substantial drop in the rate of other crimes in Accra and its environs. This is contained in a paper presented by Dr K.K. Manfo, Commissioner of Police in-charge of operations, on "Crime Combat for Socio-Economic and Political Stability" at the first Ghana International Safety and Security Exhibition seminar in Accra.

Dr Manfo observed that although the present state of crime in the country is relatively low, it is becoming alarming, judging from the recent spate of attacks by robbers on people on the highways, and deaths and injuries that have characterised some of these attacks.

According to Dr Manfo, offences considered most serious and attracting public concern include murder, rape, defilement, robbery and possession, use and distribution of narcotic drugs. He mentioned advanced-fee fraud, popularly known as "419" as the dangerous dimension to the crime landscape in the country.

Dr Manfo revealed that available statistics for the last two years indicate that there has been appreciable rise in crime, especially armed robbery towards the end of last year and the beginning of this year.

This situation, he contented could be attributed to the state of inadequate vehicles for effective patrols in the cities and towns at the time.

On his part, the Deputy Minister of the Interior, Mr Kwadwo Affram Asiedu, stressed the need for the state to procure the state of the art equipment to check the spate of sophisticated crimes in the country.

He hinted that security personnel should also be well motivated to face the challenges posed by modern crime trends. Mr Asiedu was of the view that crime has not only increased in number, "but has also become more dastardly and sophisticated, making its dimension and prevention more challenging.

SECUREX 2002, he said, is designed to harness all the Potential resources in combating crime and to create safety and security awareness in the society. He hinted that the SECUREX 2002, which is the first of its kind, is a four-day event consisting of exhibition of security and safety hardware, workshops, demonstrations and seminars.

The deputy minister asked the public to help the security services in combating crime, which is a serious anathema to the whole society.