Increase Police Visibility To Deter Robbers – Inusah Fuseini

A former Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini believes the inadequate number of police personnel in the country is emboldening armed robbers to perpetrate crime in the country.

According to him, armed robbers will be deterred from operating if they notice high police presence in the crime-prone areas.

Speaking on The Big Issue on Saturday, the Tamale Central legislator said the police must ensure it recruits more credible individuals into the force to enable it to enhance its visibility across the country.

His comment comes in the wake of recent robbery incidents that have generated massive public discourse recently and provoked a sense of heightened insecurity.

Inusah Fuseini said: “An armed robber or a person predisposed to committing a crime will think twice if he looks everywhere and sees somebody in uniform. Because the likelihood of him being arrested when committing a crime is high so he might think twice. That alone can bring down crime. We must look at the visibility of the police. Get the police everywhere. Recruit more, and let us see them.”

‘Security is a collective effort’

He further advocated for public sensitization on the need to be security conscious and assist the police in rooting out crime.

He told the host, Selorm Adonoo that security challenges in the country must not be perceived to be as one the police or security agencies are solely responsible for.

According to him, the challenges are collective and citizens must join forces with the security agencies to help solve it.

“The armed robbers have become more daring not because you have moved them from being landguards. It is because they know we fear, and we don’t regard security as collective problem…. We are looking at it as if it is a security agencies problem. Armed robbers do not live outside our communities, they live within our communities and we know people who behave suspiciously,” he said.

The has been a series of robbery attacks on unsuspecting Ghanaians and companies in recent months.

Mobile money vendors and forex bureaux appear to be most the targeted in the operations.

On Tuesday, there were two robbery attacks in the North Kaneshie area which left some persons injured.

A Lebanese businessman was on Wednesday shot and killed by a group of armed robbers in broad daylight at the Tema Industrial Area after he withdrew some amount of money from a bank. The robbers made away with GH¢200,000 in that operation.

There have also been a number of robbery attacks in some parts of Accra and Koforidua in recent days.

Arrested and killed

The Police have made a number of arrests in recent days as they seek to assure the public that they remain in control of the security situation in the country.

Two suspected armed robbers in two separate raids in Accra earlier in the week.

One of the suspects, Mohammed Iddrisu Ziblim, 24 years, was arrested on his way back from a robbery operation.

Some items retrieved from the two suspects include two pistols, one G3 rifle, 15 rounds of ammunition, two face masks, two pairs of hand gloves, a pair of scissors, a machete, five mobile phones and a bag.

In the Eastern Region six people have been arrested in connection with series of robberies in the New Juaben Municipality and its surrounding areas.

Police shake-up

These incidents have prompted members of the public and the Minority to call for some of the heads of the security agencies, including the Inspector General of Police, David Asante-Apeatu, to be sacked.

The IGP has responded with a major reshuffle in the Service, with several officers given new assignments.

Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, Director General of Police Operations, has been reassigned to head the Research and Planning Department.

He is to be replaced immediately by the Eastern Regional Police Commander, DCOP Simon Afeku.

Nine others have also been reassigned to take up various positions across the country.

Source: Citifmonline