Research why Kasoa is a crime hub then 'sanitise the ground' strategically – Toobu

Wa West MP Peter Lanchene Toobu has advised the Ghana Police Service to commission research into the security challenges of Kasoa in the Awutu Senya East Municipality of the Central Region so as to be able to confront those challenges strategically rather than randomly.

Until his retirement in the lead-up to the 2020 general elections, Mr Toobu served as the Executive Secretary to Inspector-General of Police David Asante-Apeatu (now retired).

Discussing why Kasoa has become a hotbed of crime in Ghana on Accra100.5FM’s morning show Ghana Yensom on Monday, 29 March 2021, Mr Toobu told host Kwame Appiah Kubi that only research can help the security agencies get to the bottom of the security nature of Kasoa.

“Policing right now is based on science and data”, he said, asking: “What is the data saying? What is the problem in Kasoa?”

“Analyse it. Conduct detailed research and make recommendations and the police will look at the research details and design and operate a special strategy to respond appropriately”, the opposition lawmaker proposed.

In his view, no progress can made if the police keep tackling the problem without knowing its basis and insisted that only research can help the situation.

“If we don’t do that, this cyclical kneejerk reaction of transferring police officers there and withdrawing them after every four years will keep going on without tackling the root cause of the problem”, he pointed out.

“What it actually means is that we are not touching the base of the problem”, Mr Toobu said.

“The base of the problem is not in the police officer”, he noted.

“The base of the problem is the place the police officers are working”, he asserted.

“It is necessary that we take a second look at Kasoa, as a country, and sanitise the ground, otherwise it doesn’t matter which police officer you send there”, he argued.

The retired police officer conceded that “Kasoa is a challenge but there is a solution attached to it”.