Police worried about ‘fake’ distress calls

The Ashaiman District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Seth Tay says the inability of the public to differentiate between “theft or stealing, armed robbery and burglary” is a major concern to the Police.

He said it was common to receive distress calls from residents that there was armed robbery attacks in their homes, only for the Police to get there to find out they were minor offences.

Speaking in an interview with The Ghanaian Times, DSP Tay defined theft or stealing as a crime where someone takes the property of another without his or her permission from the person or a place.

He explained that with theft or stealing, it could happen in the presence or absence of the victim.

The Ashaiman District Commander said robbery was taking property from a person using force or threat or both to achieve the objective.

He defined burglary as entering a home, structure, be it a residential facility, a warehouse, office among others with the intent to commit crime.

He clarified that with burglary, the culprit need not necessarily use a violent means such as using sharp or harmful implements to break into the facility but a mere push to open the door or window was enough to be considered as an act of burglary.

DSP Tay therefore appealed to the public to consider the above explanations before calling the police for assistance.

“You see, to the police armed robbery is a very big deal and so we treat it with so much urgency because we know time is very critical and life and property are at stake in such situations,” he explained.