The inefficiencies of the Ghana Police Service have been highlighted by a number listeners who called into the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, to share their experiences as victims of crime and perceived police ineptitude.
The trend from the callers indicated that the criminal activities in their areas escalated from petty thievery of items like hub caps from car tyres to car hijacking because of poor security.
Majority of the callers who reside at Kasoa lamented the limited police presence in some crime prone areas.
Police too far away
One caller revealed that there were nights where he could hear sounds of residents calling for help during a robbery.
He said for instance that the nearest police station to his house at Kasoa is 45 minutes away.
A woman who called to complain about the crime situation at Dawenya Community 25 in the Greater Accra Region, expressed particular concern for vulnerable women who she said were being raped at gunpoint.
“People are raped. My whole concern has to do with the women. They are raped at gunpoint. Girls are raped. 25 is bad. When I hear that people are going to 25, I always pray for them. It is nothing to write home about.”
Police more concerned with extortion
She further blasted the police for their apathy and corrupt acts saying, “They do their own thing. They just sit in their cars, they just take money from us. Sometimes they just stop you unnecessarily. The main issues they don’t tackle. In the evenings, they disappear.”
One other caller from Mataheko in Accra recounted an experience with some police personnel that somewhat substantiated allegations of lethargy and negligence hurled at police.
According this caller, he had been recently robbed of his laptop and about GHc 2,500, for which he lodged a report at the Odokor Police Station.
“So I went to the police station to report to them. When I went there, the police man was telling me that he was hungry and that he was going to eat… I waited for an hour and twenty minutes till he came back. He took my statement and later gave me a number to call the CID. When I called the CID, he told me that he is going to a funeral,” he narrated.
The lack of pro-activity on the part of the police was also highlighted by another caller from Kasoa, who said she had reported the activities of some suspicious tenants in her neighborhood but the police had taken no action.
“We have some police people staying very close to them and nobody has taken the pain to even find out the activities of these young men or what they are into and they always pass there with their flashy cars. They don’t ask any questions.”
She further revealed that she had been robbed three days ago but her complaint to the police ended nowhere.
“When we called the police, they asked for our telephone numbers and some few details up till now, nobody has even come to our house to ask us any questions,” she recounted in frustration.
Danfaa police station abandoned
These complaints followed a report by Citi News’ Farida Shaibu which exposed how a police post built by residents of Danfaa, a peri-urban community located in the La-Nkwantanan District of the Greater Accra Region, had been abandoned.
The frustrated residents, through an association, put up the police post in the community to help curb criminal activities.
The Chief of the area initiated the process by converting two of his shops into a police post, together with two rooms to serve as accommodation for the police officers.
But the Vice President of the Residents Association complained that for the past seven months since the completion of the project, not a single police officer has been posted there.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana