Support police to fight crime - DCOP Mensah appeals to media
The Accra Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr George Alex Mensah, has called on the media to support the police in the fight against crime and other social vices.
He said as the Fourth Estate of the Realm, the media played a critical role in national development and it was important that they partnered the police in the performance of its duties to maintain law and order.
The commander made the call when he led a four-member delegation from the Accra Regional Police Command of the Ghana Police Service to pay a visit to the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) in Accra Tuesday.
Other members of the delegation included the Operational Commander of the Accra Region, Chief Superintendent Kwesi Ofori, the Regional Staff Officer, ASP William Asare, and the Public Relations Officer of Accra Region, ASP Efia Tenge,
During the visit, the delegation participated in the deliberations of the editorial conference of the Daily Graphic, the flagship newspaper of the GCGL.
Some members of the conference raised issues about bad roads, the jumping of red light, the use of Okada, armed robbery, noise-making and unauthorised use of sirens and appealed to the police to address them.
Professional body
Mr Mensah said the police had done many good deeds in the discharge of their duties but sections of the media, sometimes, chose to focus on the negative aspects of the work that the police had done.
He conceded that being a human institution, there was always the possibility that the police could have a backlash, but asked the media to focus more on the positive dimensions of police work, since focusing on the negatives had the potential to undermine security.
He said fighting crime was a shared responsibility and called on members of the public to assist the police by providing information that would lead to the arrest of criminals.
Difficult patrols
The commander said inadequate lightning and bad roads in some parts of Accra were some of the challenges confronting the police.
He said currently the police were in discussions with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to see how best the assembly could provide more street lights, especially in crime-prone areas.
He said Kaneshie, especially the market area, was gradually becoming problematic, with drivers parking on two lanes and leaving only one lane for vehicles, a situation which gave room to the robbers to commit crime.
Blowing of sirens
On the unauthorised use of sirens, Mr Mensah said with the exception of institutions such as the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), the State Protocol, ambulances and hospitals, it was wrong for commercial drivers to use sirens.
For his part, the Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Ransford Tetteh, urged the police and the media to continue to collaborate as part of the national effort to bring about the needed peace and maintain law and order.
