General News of Friday, 2 March 2018
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2018-03-02
Some have suggested that the military be deployed to help combat robberies
Security expert, Dr Kwesi Aning has attributed the increase in robberies to the absence of an effective crime prevention strategy by the police administration.
He said there will be no need for a reshuffle of the police hierarchy if there exists a structure that allows officers to do their work without needless interference.
The security analyst with Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre was reacting to Thursday’s shake-up within the structure of the police administration reportedly instigated by the rise in crime rate.
There has been a public outcry following a string of robberies in the last two days leading to the death of at least two people. In all the five attacks, the robbers reportedly stole various sums of money from their victims.
Reacting to the spate of attacks, the government has rolled out various measures aimed at increasing police and military surveillance across the major cities to combat criminals.
Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante-Apeatu has also reassigned top police officials including Director-General of Operations, George Akuffo Dampare as part of the new measures.
But Dr Aning has downplayed the impact of the shake-up, saying it does little to dissuade armed groups from carrying out their activities.
“Changing the men does not help when you don’t have enough and when our ability to resolve crime is just 6 percent,” he told Evans Mensah on Joy FM’s Top Story Thursday, accusing the police leadership of being lethargic.
The security expert faulted the police council for not rising up to the occasion, saying it should have met after the first attack to consider its options.
“I am not assured by this [because] much more needs to be done,” Dr Aning said.
He also had issues with the deployment of the military to complement the police in combating robberies. He described it as unnecessary.
“The military is the last bastion [and] when it loses that aura of invisibility and it begins to infiltrate the society then we are in trouble,” Dr Aning cautioned.
But Head of Security Warehouse Limited, Adam Bonaa said the changes made by the IGP is necessary to reassure Ghanaians that something is being done to arrest the situation.
“In situations like this you need to reassure the public that someone is out there on the look at [and] these changes to me at the end of the day are to reassure us,” he said.