By Augustine Ehikioya
Countering the comments by the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), the Ghana Police Service (GPS) has denied alleged upsurge in crimes in the West African country.
As an indication for the rising crimes, the GBA had referred to the murder of one of its member, Lawyer Richard Badombie on the Bole-Bamboi highway.
But the Ghana Police Service has assured that it is on top of security situations in the country.
This was disclosed in a statement issued by the Director-General, Public Affairs Directorate, Police Headquarters, DCOP Kwesi Ofori, and made available to Security Watch Africa (SWA).
The statement reads “The Ghana Police Service takes note of the statement issued by the Ghana Bar Association, GBA, with reference to the murder of a member of the GBA, Lawyer Richard Badombie on the Bole-Bamboi highway and would like to state as follows.
“We wish to assure the public that there is no upsurge in crime. The Service is on top of the security situation in the country and remains committed to its crime fighting efforts.
“We fight crime every day and treat every crime with the same urgency and same professional attitude and we regret the loss of every life,” it added.
The Police also explained that it has been working around the clock like in other cases, as soon as the murder incident occurred.
It said it is doing everything to get to the bottom of the murder case and get the perpetrators arrested and brought to justice.
It said “In line with standard operating procedure, we immediately commenced an investigation into the incident, launched a manhunt for the perpetrators, and issued a statement to that effect on Saturday, May 28, 2022.
“In addition, the Inspector-General of Police and the Regional Police Commander, Savanna Region, have been in touch with the bereaved family to commiserate with them and assure them of a thorough investigation into the case.
“Three persons have so far been arrested in connection with the case and are being interrogated. We will put out further details when it is possible to do so without jeopardising the ongoing investigation,” the statement said.
It also pointed out that the Police in recent times, has deployed various strategic crime prevention and control interventions to counter violent crime, including armed robbery in the country.
The statement said “Special anti-robbery task forces have been deployed to locations that were identified as crime-prone.
“A holistic community policing programme has been implemented across the country, which involves the top echelon of the Service, as well as Regional, Divisional and District Police Commanders travelling across the country to educate the public on crime prevention, deepen their security consciousness and gather intelligence to inform Police operations.
“These are among other policing interventions being implemented by the Service. We, therefore, urge the public, including all special-interest groups, to be circumspect in their commentary on this matter and rather support the Police to find a quick resolution to the case.
“We wish to assure the public that we remain focused and committed to fighting crime in the country,” the statement said.