Police must be vigilant on state installations - Minister

Mr. Alfred Ekow Gyan, Deputy Western Regional Minister, has urged police personnel to be extra vigilant on state installations in the region.

He said the Western Region had become a unique place for foreign and local investors due to the numerous natural resources being mined there.

The region can boast of very important state installations such as the Aboadze Thermal Plant, Regulatory and Metering stations of West African Pipeline Company, Takoradi Port, the ongoing Atuabo Gas Processing Plant, Electricity Company of Ghana sub-stations, as well as the Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO) facility drilling oil on the Jubilee fields.

These and many others called for extra vigilance, he said, and tasked the security agencies to remain alert at all times to deal decisively with all criminal elements that might cause mayhem.

Mr. Gyan gave the advice at a soiree organized by the Western Regional Police Command for some senior police officers and journalists in Sekondi.

He entreated the Police Service to improve the police/civilian relationship and collaboration so as to receive support from the citizenry in executing their mandate.

He said although the Police Service had chalked successes in recent times; however, there were few bad nuts that were putting the good name of the Service into disrepute.

According to Mr. Gyan, reports had indicated that some police personnel gave hints about the operations of the police to some smugglers and illegal small-scale miners to take cover.

This, he said, did not augur well for peace and security of the country as it undermined the efforts of the security agencies to rid society of miscreants.

“I will urge you to review yourselves and weed out those bad nuts to uphold the integrity of the Service,” he said.

Mr. Gyan pledged the support of the Regional Coordinating Council towards the security services to ensure optimal security at all state installations.