Community Policing Unit to be revamped
The Community Policing Unit of the Ghana Police Service is being revamped to help prevent crime within communities and to ensure public safety.
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Though the police have formed residential security committees in some areas, participation by residents in some areas is far from satisfactory.
The unit has, therefore, decided to reinforce the system to prevent crimes as well as to facilitate active participation of the public to check crimes like burglary.
The Director of the Community Policing Unit, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mrs Habiba Twumasi-Sarpong, made this known when she led a delegation of the unit to pay a courtesy call on the Director of Newspapers of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, last Wednesday.
Their discussions focused on how the two institutions could cooperate to bridge the gap between the public and the police and ways to promote neighbourhood watch security committees.
Partnering with the media
Mrs Twumasi-Sarpong indicated that the community policing system was an important avenue for fighting petty crimes as well as organised crimes, since it alerted the public and also brought the police closer to the community.
Although the system has been successfully implemented in some areas including the Nima, Amanfrom and Ashaiman areas, all in the Greater Accra Region, she said other communities across the country needed to implement the system to prevent crime within society.
In view of that, Mrs Twumasi-Sarpong said some strategies to revamp the unit to make it stronger and effective had been outlined.
As part of the strategy, she said the unit was seeking effective collaboration with the media to champion the cause and to sensitise the public to community policing and its importance.
Considering its diversity and credibility, she said the GCGL could use its platforms to encourage community leadership to form neighbourhood watch committees and solicit support for the initiative.
‘Build public confidence’
For his part, Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh said in advanced countries, neighbourhood watch security was very important; however, “in Ghana it seems we are not taking advantage of it”.
He blamed the situation on the negative perception that the public had about the police and the loss of trust in the police, saying that “the police need to rebuild public confidence to assure the people that the police are there for them”.
“Some attitude of the police sends wrong signal to the public; therefore to get to the grass roots through the community policing, they must demonstrate sincerity and ingenuity,” he stated.
He added that the police also needed to build public confidence by protecting informants who gave out information for them to act upon, adding that confidentiality was very significant.
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh assured the delegation of GCGL support to promote the neighbourhood watch committee concept.