Police has put in place measures

THE Police Administration has put in place measures to ensure peace before, during and after the December 2012 parliamentary and presidential elections, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, has assured.
He said given the pace and rate at which security provisions for the elections were going, the December elections shall be successfully conducted.
At a meeting with the Eminent Persons Group and Members of the Peace Council at the Police Headquarters in Accra yesterday, the IGP expressed optimism that the elections would be totally successful if Ghanaians from all walks of life would once again stand up and rise to the occasion by portraying through their actions and inaction that they were peaceful and willing to promote national cohesion in the interest of democracy, freedom and justice.
He said the police as the lead security agency would be collaborating with other sister security agencies such as the Military, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana National Fire Service, Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), among others, to provide security at all polling stations.
Outlining some of the programmes and activities being undertaken by the police to ensure peaceful elections, Mr Quaye said election task forces had been formed throughout the country to monitor the elections and ensure peace.
He said the unity of purpose and the show of love and commitment to ensure a peaceful and orderly funeral of the late President of the Republic of Ghana, Prof. J. E. A. Mills, reflected the nature and character of the Ghanaian.
He said this singular event did show that Ghanaians were capable of rising above pettiness, divisive tendencies and pride to promote national cohesion, adding that violence in the true sense of the word was alien to the Ghanaian cultural environment.
Presenting the security environment in which the forthcoming elections was to take place, Mr Quaye gave a brief overview of the crime situation in the country.
He indicated that at the beginning of the year 2011, the police set for itself a  target of five per cent reduction of criminal cases reported throughout the country.
He said 423 cases were recorded in 2011 as against 422 in 2010.
Mr Quaye said a review of the three-year period, 2009-2001 showed that there had been a systematic and consistent reduction of criminal cases.
The IGP asserted that apart from the commonly committed offences such as assault, stealing, threat and fraud, special focus was always paid to the four major offences (murder, rape/defilement, robbery and possession, use and distributions of narcotic drugs).
The Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Commissioner of Police (COP), Mr Prosper Agblor, and the Director-General in Charge of Police Operations, COP Mr John Kudalor, gave presentations on the recent upsurge of communal violence in the country and subsequent police actions in dealing with them and the various preparation stages of the police towards the elections and the way forward to achieving peaceful elections.
For her part, Professor Ewurama Addy, the Chairman of the Eminent Persons Group, said the funeral of the late President showed that Ghanaians were peaceful people.
She said the police administration did an excellent job judging from the short period that they had at their disposal to organise the funeral, which turned out successful.
According to her, the security exhibited during the funeral had given Ghanaians the confidence and hope that the elections would be peaceful.
“We have to showcase once again to the sub-region that we have matured in our democracy,” she stated.