Police step up fight against armed robbers

Page 20: Daily Graphic, June 29, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Operations Department of the Ghana Police Service has stepped up its fight against armed robbery and residential crimes with the setting up of tent cities in selected residential areas.
An initiative of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, the tent cities are to serve as a first point of call by residents to relay information on suspected criminal activities or suspicious characters within those areas.
Each of the tent cities will be provided with a telephone number to serve the communities and reduce time of response to distress calls.
Already the tent cities have been mounted at East Legon, Achimota Golf Club and Dzorwulu while other areas such as Taifa, Dansoman, Dome Pillar II and Awoshie were being considered depending on the co-operation of the residents to the citing of the cities there.
The Director of Operations, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Richmond Nii Boi-Bi-Boi, told the Daily Graphic that the officers on duty at the tent cities would relay any information to the patrol teams within their vicinities.
He said members of the communities in which the tent cities would be located should visit the tent cities to interact with the personnel and share relevant information with them.
As part of the tent cities initiative, special day patrol exercises have been started to beef up security presence especially in crime prone areas.
In the medium term, a Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) team of police personnel are being trained to perform high-risk operations that are beyond the abilities of regular officers, including serving high-risk arrest warrants, barricading suspects, hostage rescue, counter-terrorism, and engaging heavily-armed criminals among other duties.
SWAT teams are often equipped with special firearms including assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, carbines, riot control agents, stun grenades, and high-powered rifles for snipers.
They have special equipment including heavy body armour, entry tools, armoured vehicles, advanced night vision optics, and motion detectors for covertly determining the positions of hostages or hostage takers inside an enclosed structure.
A fleet of vehicles have also been released to the police by the National Security Council Secretariat to augment the capacity of the security agencies to combat armed robbery.
There is also intelligence sharing between the police and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to help build a crime database.
ACP Boi-Bi-Boi said the tent cities would serve as local rallying points for police operations especially in the night where the police/military patrol team might not be immediately available.
He said those who patronised the tents would be provided with security tips on how to protect themselves and their property against armed robbery.
He said the tent city idea would be started in Accra with the view of spreading it out to other communities.
ACP Boi-Bi-Boi appealed to the communities in which the tent cities would be cited to co-operate with the personnel and not to see their presence as intimidatory, adding that “we are targeting criminals and not innocent people”.
He said as part of their duties, the personnel would be available to provide security talks to churches and schools in the vicinities in which they are located.
He said those on the specialised day patrols would be visiting houses and work places to interact with those they meet to discuss their security concerns.
ACP Boi-Bi-Boi said the confidentiality of informants were guaranteed and urged any informant whose identity was blown by any police officer to call on the District, Divisional or Regional Commanders to lodge a complaint against the said officer.