The Central regional commander at the Ghana Police Service, DCOP Habiba Twumasi Sarpong, has disclosed that the Service has begun increasing the number of its personnel via the deployment of new recruits in the various regions across the country.

According to her, the move is intended to boost police visibility in the country to aid in the combat of crime.

“Because of the Kasoa incidents and so many things that happened there, we developed some strategies… We’ll push more personnel to Kasoa to make sure we increase our patrols. We also did tent cities which is also helping very well. Thanks to the Inspector General of Police. With the arrival of this new vibrant recruit, we are going to see more there and very soon you’ll see a lot more police men and women in Kasoa, making sure the wonderful people of Kasoa will be safe so that everybody can go about his or her business without fear or favour.

“I also encourage members of the public to continue to support us by sharing information about crime. Information that will help us prevent crime and also help us unravel crime”.

On her part, the Central Region Minister, Justina Marigold Assan entreated the new personnel to demonstrate professionalism in their line of duties.

Additionally, she intimated that the Regional Coordinating Council will support the personnel to ensure that they exact their duties.

“As the head of the Regional Security Council, I am extremely excited that these numbers have come to augment the number of personnel we have in the region already. If nothing at all, this will increase police visibility in our communities”.

Increase Police visibility in the country

Over the months, various stakeholders have called for increased surveillance of communities following the increased rate in crimes perpetuated in the country.

In June this year, the Member of Parliament for Gomoa East, Desmond Degraft Paitoo, called on the outgoing Inspector General of Police, James Oppong-Boanuh, to increase police visibility on the road as a way of curbing crime.

According to him, the rising number of crimes require an improvement in police visibility rather than the excessive focus on road traffic regulations.

Mr Paitoo further revealed that a lot of people have been shot dead and there has not been any response from the Police in this regard. He therefore called on the Service to put in more effort in addressing the issue.

The Member of Parliament for Wa West in the Upper West Region, Supt. Rtd. Peter Lanchene Toobu, on the other hand, also petitioned the Speaker of Parliament over growing insecurity in parts of the country.

Contained in a letter to the Speaker, he highlighted various crimes in Wa West, Bawku West, Sissala West and Awutu Senya East among others.

The Wa West legislator, further intimated that as a member of the Defence and Interior Committee of the house, the matter requires urgent attention from the Parliament despite being on recess.