Central Regional police attend workshop on community policing

The Director of Community Police Unit (CPU), Chief Superintendent of Police Alhaji Mohammed Fuseini Suraj, on Thursday said the country’s democratic dispensation has put the Ghana Police Service under enormous pressure to counter the rising tide of organized crimes.

He said in spite of the enormous pressure to counter armed and highway robberies, cyber crimes, drug and human trafficking, as well as occultism; the 1992 Constitution expects the Service to operate in accordance with national and international laws and also respect human rights at all times.

Chief Superintendent Suraj who said this at a two-day sensitization workshop for Community Policing Desk Officers (CPDOs) at the Central Regional Police Headquarters in Cape Coast, said, this sometimes made the work of the Police very difficult.

The 21 participants drawn from all districts in the Central Region treated topics such as concept and application of community policing, communication skills and public engagement, as well as the identification and involvement of police key stakeholders in the promotion of safer neighborhoods.

He said in response to the Ghana Police Service’s five-year Strategic National Policing Plan (2010-2014), a national conference on community policing was organized in August 2011 in Accra, where participants were given the opportunity to contribute their views and ideas to “better policing” between the Police and community members.

Chief Superintendent Suraj said the conference, which was successful made the stakeholders appreciate the fact that security is a collective and shared responsibility between the police and community, hence a lot of support being pledged, which resulted in the provision of logistics to enhance the operational capacity of the Unit.

“Based on this, the Inspector General of Police and the entire Police Administration felt the need for the CPU to expand its operations to other regions in the country, hence the orientation in all regions,” he added.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Stephen Andoh Kwofie, the Central Regional Police Commander, said the present rate of crime in the country has made it necessary for the police to take policing to the doorstep of Ghanaians instead of waiting on the public for information.

He said the attitude of some police personnel such as customer service was so appalling that it puts the public off and therefore makes them unwilling to assist the police or provide them with the necessary information.

He said the core mandate of the police was to maintain law and order, protect life and property, as well as detect and prevent crime, but there was no way the police could do it without the help of the public.

DCOP Kwofie said there was therefore the need for police and public corporation, which would among others, find out the policing needs of the communities and adequately provide them.