Director of Operations for the Ghana Police Service, COP George Akufo Dampare has said although his outfit is logistically deficient, they are ready to put their lives on the line to ensure the safety of every Ghanaian.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Dampare also noted that the support of the citizens will go a long way to help the Police Service combat the increasing rate of crime in the country.
[contextly_sidebar id=”EHot4TlRGOx7Y2llpelxuAMl4eoXMs19″]This comment comes on the back of a series of robbery incidents across the country since the beginning of the year.
“We want to give them [citizens] the assurance that we will go every length, including losing our lives to make them safe. We understand that we are not there yet, in terms of the full complement of our equipment. We also understand that over the years, government after government has made an attempt to bring us to a particular level in terms of equipment,” he said.
COP Dampare also commended the government for its commitment to supporting the police by allocating 800 million Ghana cedis to the Service, to assist their operations.
“For the first time, this government is putting across 800 million Ghana cedis to retool the police service, so in term of logistics, I think progressively we are getting there,” he said.
He also noted that the Police Service will however not use the fact that they are underresourced as an excuse not to fight crime in the country.
“We don’t want to be out there and play the victim, that we don’t have this, we don’t have that, and because of that, we cannot work. We are [committed to] defending this country and the minimum resources that we have now, we want to assure the country that we will continue to make good use of them,” he said.
Robbers on rampage
This week has seen a number of robbery incidents in the Accra, one on a Forex Bureaux at Spintex and two daylight robbery by suspected robbers in the North Kaneshie area.
Two persons are reported to have sustained gunshot wounds from suspected robbers who appeared to be fleeing a crime scene.
Gunfire was first heard in the area around a Latex Foam showroom at North Kaneshie where the robbers had crashed their vehicle.
There was heavy police presence at the scene of the North Kanashie incident.
Also on Tuesday morning, armed men stormed Royal Motors, an automobile company in Accra, making away with the company’s sales.
Eyewitnesses reported that the robbers trailed a bullion van that had entered the Industrial Area premises of the company to collect the company’s sales made the previous day.
Two persons have since been arrested in connection with the incident.
Recent arrests
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante Appeatu, had earlier announced that the police arrested a group of suspected robbers believed to be behind attacks on about 20 forex bureaux in the Spintex road area in just 2018.
The attacks on these Forex Bureaux were growing number of robberies and high-profile criminal activity in the region.
Mobile money transfer spots have also been targeted by robbers in recent times.
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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana