A constructed Police station commissioned by the DCE
The North Tongu District of the Volta Region is to build more police stations to help bridge the yawning gap of people-police ratio to enhance security in the area.
Under the plan, a District Police Command, being temporarily housed in a refurbished six-room apartment block, has also been opened at Juapong to harness police administration in the District.
Mr. Richard Collins Arku, District Chief Executive (DCE) of the area, announcing this, put the current police-people ratio at one policeman to 8,000 residents, describing it as, "too much and too bad for effective policing".
Addressing a Town Hall Meeting (THM) by the Assembly to account for their stewardship to the public on Monday at Juapong, Mr Arku named Volo as one of the towns for the new police station project.
"We have since notified the Inspector General of Police (IGP)'s office over the matter and the green light has been given us to build some new police stations," Mr. Arku said.
He said the district, created about three years ago, has only two police stations at Aveyime and Juapong until the two new ones at Mepe and Fodzoku were created.
Mr. Arku, taking time off to inspect the Juapong District Police Command as part of the THM, said security in the District, covering an area of 1,460 kilometer square, with a population of 89,777 according to the 2010 National Population and Housing Census, needed to be scaled up as appropriate.
He noted that the ongoing tarring works on the Juapong-Volo-Adidome road, linking the Accra-Ho trunk road at Juapong and the Accra-Aflao ECOWAS Highway at Sogakope, for example, is already seeing increasing vehicular traffic on it through the District.
This, he said required 24-hour police presence on the road when fully opened for travellers' safety, while the rise in investments and its related economic and employment opportunities will soon be attracting all kinds of people to the District.
Mr. Arku assured the people the Assembly will not shirk its responsibility for their safety and appealed to them to cooperate with the police to ensure success in policing in the area.
