Police Administration to close down Donkorkrom Police Station
The Police Administration has decided to close down the Donkorkrom Police Station until the building which was vandalised by rioters is renovated or reconstructed at the expense of the people of Donkorkrom.
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“The police are determined to stamp this evil behaviour out of our society once and for all, and the Donkorkrom incident will be used as a test case. People will be made to account for their actions.”
At a press conference jointly addressed by the Inspector-General of Police, Dr John Kudalor, and the Director-General of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Mr Prosper Kwame Agblor, at the Police Headquarters in Accra yesterday, the IGP said all those who would be arrested in connection with the incident would be “prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to would-be troublemakers.”
‘This impunity must stop’
“The practice of attacking the police, police office, accommodation facilities and logistics at the least provocation is becoming rampant. This impunity must stop,” he said.
The situation at Donkorkrom, he said, was calm with 100 personnel from the Formed Police Unit (FPU), the Counter-Terrorist Unit (CTU) and other action units of the Ghana Police Service deployed to the area to maintain law and order.
“The police will not spare anyone who decides to take the law into his/her own hands to foment fresh troubles,” Mr Kudalor warned.
He said the police would pursue the perpetrators, arrest and prosecute them according to the laws of the land and that “no single person who had a hand in this act of criminality will escape the wrath of the law”.
The IGP announced that the police had commenced investigations into the entire incident on two fronts, one being the robbery, arrest and escape and the second being public disorder and disturbance.
Thorough investigations to be conducted
“The police work to rules and regulations, so the conduct of the police officers involved in the robbery and those involved in the arrest and escort of the suspects will be subjected to a thorough investigation and anyone found to have misconducted himself or herself will be accordingly punished,” Mr Kudalor said.
Already, he said, the police had names of some ringleaders at Donkorkrom who instigated the attack on the police, adding that they would soon be picked up.
The riot by the residents of Donkorkrom and its environs, according to COP Agblor, led to the injury of 14 demonstrators, two policemen, the setting ablaze of a standby generator and rooms at the Donkorkrom Police Barracks, vandalising of water reservoir at the barracks and the police station, among other facilities.
“They also attacked police officers and their families and looted one of the blocks in the barracks, taking away personal belongings of the affected personnel and those of their families. The police, numbering only eight, managed to push back the demonstrators, numbering about 500,” COP Agblor recounted.
Background
Giving the background to the incident, COP Agblor said last Tuesday, August 16, 2016 at about 10:30a.m, the police at Donkorkrom received a report that there was a robbery on a bullion van with registration number GN 1354-15, at Maame Krobo Junction at the Afram Plains.
The police, he said, promptly responded to the call and after some serious operational manoeuvres, the suspects, numbering three, were rounded up.
The gang, he said, was made up of Hasifu Mohammed, a civilian who was the driver of the taxicab used for the robbery operation, and two policemen, Corporal Elvis Solomon Mensah and Lance Corporal Daniel Kissi Abrokwah.
While being transported to Koforidua, the vehicle stopped at Nkawkaw to refuel and the police suspects managed to escape but were later re-arrested.
“However, the action that followed the escape of the suspects is unfortunate and reprehensible, to say the least. On Thursday, August 18, 2016, residents of Donkorkrom and Tease, on the instigation of some opinion leaders, mobilised and attacked the police station, vandalising service vehicles and other vehicles parked within the premises of the said police facility, and set some rooms of the police barracks ablaze,” he recounted.