Ahead of the December polls, the Ashanti Regional Criminal Investigations Department (RCID) has appealed to the Police Administration to resource officers in the department so they can work effectively.
Key among what they say are urgent needs are cameras to take pictures and videos for evidential purposes.
The Regional Crime Officer, Chief Superintendent John Naami, who made the appeal at a workshop for investigators in the Ashanti Region at Kumasi, lamented that �as a department we cannot even boast of one video camera to perform such critical duties� We need some [cameras] to ease our activities.�
He also asked the Police Administration to provide fax machines for the divisions and districts to enhance communication.
The workshop, which sought to build the capacity of all divisional and district crime officers as well as detective chief inspectors and inspectors, is part of various activities the Ashanti Regional Police are undertaking to ensure that the December polls pass peacefully
While admitting that the task ahead was quite tough, Chief Supt. Naami assured the public that the police were up to the task and that it was very necessary that the bond between the police and the public was further strengthened.
He raised concerns over the practice where leaders of political parties choose to resort to making noise on radio about perceived crimes to raise tension in the region instead of doing the right thing by reporting their misgivings to the police.
�This unfortunate development ends up inciting some of their followers to resort to violence,� he observed, and expressed further disappointment that �some of the media also condone such acts by discussing the issues on their networks without a full disclosure of the facts.�
Chief Supt. Naami advised that if we all want to go through the elections peacefully, then every individual should take responsibility and be prepared to contribute his or her quota in that regard.
He was happy that the general crime situation in the region for the first half of the year witnessed some 0.35 per cent improvement over the same period last year.
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