C/R records reduction in criminal cases

The Central Regional Police Command, as at the end of the third quarter of this year, recorded a total of 14,688 criminal cases, as against 15,016 cases in the previous year, indicating a decrease of 328.

Robbery, cases during the first, second and third quarters of 2013, totaled 124, as against 35 cases this year, indicating that the number of robberies recorded during the first three quarters of 2014 drastically reduced by 72 per cent.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Ransford Moses Ninson, Central Regional Police Commander, made this known when Mr Mark Owen Woyongo, Minister of the Interior, addressed a durbar of security agencies under his Ministry in Cape Coast.

The durbar which was attended by personnel from the Ghana Police, Prisons, Fire and Immigration Services, as well as the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), formed part of the Minister’s two-day familiarization tour of the region, which also took him to the Ankaful Maximum Security Prison.

DCOP Ninson said rape cases also reduced by 31 percent, whilst defilement increased by three percent, pointing out that the Command was able to achieve the reduction in criminal cases, as a result of effective and efficient use of the conventional methods of policing, namely, patrols-foot and vehicle, both day and night, swoops, cordon off, searches, surveillance and snap checks.

The Regional Police Commander said many of the robbery cases recorded within the region came from Kasoa, Agona Swedru, and Dunkwa-on-Offin, which are fast-growing communities.

He explained that the nature of the robberies were mostly street and residential, during which the perpetrators armed with knives and locally manufactured weapons, robbed innocent people at gun-points of their properties, mostly mobile phones, laptop computers, cash and other valuables, without causing harm or death to their victims.

He said car-snatching was uncommon, and when it occurred, the vehicles were abandoned in the end.

DCOP Ninson said the Regional Police Command in collaboration with its sister security agencies and other stakeholders had remained resolute to curb robbery and other criminal activities, but that another disturbing factor which was dissipating valuable national human resources was carnage on our roads.

He said the issue of road traffic accidents was complex, and needed to be tackled by all the various stakeholders, adding that at the end of the third quarter of 2014 a total of 792 road traffic accidents were recorded, resulting in 162 deaths, as against 897 accidents and 207 deaths recorded during the same period last year, indicating a 13.3 per cent reduction in road accidents and 22 per cent in deaths.

He attributed the decline to the periodic joint education and enforcement exercises embarked upon by the MTTUS, Road Safety Commission, DVLA and other stakeholders in the region, pointing out that the last quarter was noted for its incessant road traffic crashes, and that measures were being put in place to address the problem.

DCOP Ninson said the region has been relatively calm over the period, and that through the efforts of the Command and the traditional authorities, a number of chieftaincy disputes, including the Abubonko chieftaincy problem, which had lingered on for more than 20 years, have been solved.

Touching on the challenges of the Command, the Regional Commander said they appreciated the strenuous efforts by government to re-tool all the agencies under the ministry of Interior , but that they were still saddled with a number of problems, which include the lack of both residential and office accommodation, and inadequate fuel supply..

For his part, DCOP James Amankrah Yeboah, Commander of the Ankaful Maximum Security Prison, said the region did not record any jail break in all its seven prisons in the past one year.

He said even though the prison has successfully transformed hardened criminals, like Ataa Ayi, it was confronted with a number of challenges, such as the lack of CCT cameras, body scanners, medicine for the inmates, operational vehicles, inadequate budgetary allocation, and residential accommodation, as well as a generator .