Strengthened police-civilian relationship required to control crime – Police Commander
The Deputy Commission of Police (DCOP) Joseph Gyamera Oklu, the Bono Regional Police Commander has called for a strengthened police-civilian relationship in crime combat.
He emphasised the police required continuous support from civilians, if the service could bring crime wave to the barest minimum, and appealed to the general public to feel comfortable and assist the police to fight crime.
DCOP Oklu made the call in an interview with Sky News after he paid a courtesy to officially introduce himself to Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, the Bono Regional Minister at her office in Sunyani.
The Regional Commander indicated that modern policing and crime combat remained shared and collective responsibility, saying the police needed the support of civilians to identify criminals and their hideouts and clamp down on them.
DCOP Oklu noted that Bono remained one of the peaceful regions in the country and promised to work hard to ensure that the relative peace in the unity was strengthened to facilitate accelerated development.
He said the surest way civilians could support the police in fighting crime was for them to provide information about people with questionable characters and movements, assuring that the confidentiality of informants was always guaranteed.
On her part, Mad Owusu-Banahene indicated absolute peace and social cohesion remained pre-requisite for development, saying as the Chairperson of the Regional Security Council she was ever ready to support the police to achieve its mandate of protecting people and properties.
The Regional Minister commended security agencies in the region for their hard work, and expressed the hope that the existing cordial relationship between the security services would be deepened.
Mad Owusu-Banahene asked the police to enhance visibility of personnel in the neighbourhoods, saying that would greatly deter criminals from undertaking their criminal activities.
She asked everybody to be law-abiding to improve the security situation in the region and appealed to the police and other securities services to intensify patrols to control crime wave in the region.
Skynewsroom
