Police Council to modernise all cells

Accra Jan. 06, GNA - Police cells throughout the country would soon be upgraded to meet current standards, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of the Interior said on Friday.

"The Ghana Police Council has designed programmes to modernise all cells to make them befitting places for all."

Modernisation of the cells formed part of the decision taken by the Ghana Police Council at its last meeting that sought to find ways of improving deteriorating conditions in the cells.

The Minister said this when he toured Police stations at Kasoa, Bawjiase, Mankrong Junction, and Agona Swedru all in the Central Region to get first hand information on existing conditions. He said one of the challenges faced by the security was the identification of sources of funding but added that government would look for external funds to support the service.

According to Mr. Kan-Dapaah, problems facing the police service were numerous and called on the private sector, donors and district assemblies to assist the Service.

"You can be the best police officer in the world but if you don't have the best tools you will get nowhere. Good tools bring about the beauty of your work.

"We need to assist the Police with the necessary facility to improve their work," he said.

Mr Kan-Dapaah further stressed the need to take a bold decision on salaries and accommodation problems confronting the police to enhance their personnel efficiency."

The Minister, who is also a member of the council lauded the role of the police services in the past years saying despite their challenges they had made a head way in combating crime and maintaining law and order.

He noted that this year's Yuletide was incident free, attributing that to the efforts of the country's security agencies.

Mr Kan-Dapaah was however, not happy with the spate of robbery, saying it was sending bad signals to Ghanaian residents abroad. He said:" though the number of robbery had reduced, its current level is unacceptable."

According to him most Ghanaians live in fear of being attacked and stressed the need to find solutions to the problem.