Police urge the public to regard them as friends

The Director, Police Public Affairs Superintendent Paa Kwesi Ofori, on Friday urged the general public to regard the police as their friends and not enemies and report all crimes to them.

He also urged the police to act fast when they are given

information on crimes by the general public.
Superintendent Ofori was speaking at the lunch of “Crime

Fighters” Initiative in Koforidua.
The “Crime Fighters” initiative, championed by the British

High Commission and the Ghana Police Service is to help

create security awareness and reduce crime rates in the

country.
Superintendent Ofori observed that the Inspector General

of Police was very particular about the project because it

would help reduce crime rates in the country.
He noted that the police administration was determined to

combat the level of crimes in the country and called on the

media, especially the local media to help create public

awareness on the Crime Fighters initiative in the Eastern

Region.
Superintendent Ofori also urged the police to be

ambassadors of the project by talking to their friends at

Church and other places about it
He expressed the police administration’s profound

gratitude to the British High Commission for championing the

initiative.
Ms Sarah Smitshurt, Crime Fighters Consultant from the

Nottingham Police, launching the project, announced a toll free

short code, 18555 for the general public to call from MTN and

Vodafone networks to give out information on crimes.
She called on all to contribute to help fight crimes in the

country and expressed appreciation to MTN and Vodafone for

being the only networks to support the project.
The out-going Eastern Regional Police Commander, DCOP

Ransford Ninson, in his welcoming address, observed that the

public were sometimes afraid to give out information because

they thought their identity would be disclosed.
He therefore assured the general public that the police

would protect their identities and act quick on their

information.
Mr Francis Chan, from MTN, said MTN believed that they

had a responsibility to contribute to the welfare of the country

and were always delighted to partner with like-minded

organizations on sustainable social responsibility initiatives.
He noted that as part of the efforts put in place to ensure

the success of the initiative, they organized training

programmes for police personnel in the area of customer

service and call center management.
He said the training was to ensure that personnel were

equipped with the basic skills of handling complaints for

effective delivery.
He therefore encouraged the general public to save the

Crime Fighters code on their mobile phones for easy reference

to be able to report crimes of any kind to help police take the

necessary action.