IGP David Asante-Apeatu
The Parliamentary Select-Committee on Defence and Interior yesterday met the Minister of Interior, Ambrose Dery and the Inspector-General of Police, David Asante-Apeatu, on the recent spate of attacks on police personnel by armed robbers.
Reference was particularly made to the ones that occurred at Drobonso in the Sekyere Afram Plains District of the Ashanti Region and the Kwabenya Police Station in Accra.
The committee summoned the two top men following public outcry about what is happening as far as the security of police personnel and Ghanaians is concerned.
The committee members wanted to know what the police administration and the ministry are doing to forestall the occurrence of such attacks and to ensure that Ghanaians carry out their legitimate business in absolute peace and tranquility.
The minister for interior said the government was very much concerned about the current happenings.
Mr Ambrose Dery said even though the police have challenges, the ministry would do everything possible to adequately resource them to be able to protect lives and properties as well as themselves.
He said the government would be recruiting people into the Police Service to beef up the population of policemen and women and also meet the UN requirement of one policeman to 500 citizens.
Mr Dery said all the necessary logistics would also be provided to the Police Service to enable it combat crime effectively in the country.
He said plans were advanced to procure protective clothing for police personnel to ensure that they are well protected in the course of discharging their duties.
The minister indicated that insurance packages would be given to police personnel who might get injured or die in line of duty.
Mr Dery stressed that the solution to the problem is not by asking the IGP to resign because similar incidents had occurred during the reign of past IGPs and that they were made to stay on to help tackle the problem.
The IGP gave the assurance that despite the mishaps and the challenges, personnel of the Police Service are determined to work to ensure law and order.
The vice chairman of the Defence and Interior Committee, Collins Owusu Amankwah, stressed the need for digital registration of guns in the system, adding that by so doing, the police or the authorities would be able know all the properly registered weapons in the country, as well as the illegal ones coming into the system.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr