As part of measures to improve police response time to crime scenes and emergency situations, the government has handed over 1,500 motorcycles to the Ghana Police Service.
The motorcycles are expected to facilitate police response through congested areas as well as places difficult to reach by vehicles to improve the fight against crime in the country.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo delivered the motorcycles to the police administration at the Police Headquarters in Accra yesterday.
He expressed the government’s commitment to increase the number of motorcycles to the police to 5,000 by the end of the year.
The delivery of motorcycles to the police, according to the President, was in affirmation of the government’s commitment to providing the police with the necessary logistics required to help the service maintain law and order and protect lives and properties.
“The most important things to our nation are the peace and safety of its people and its territorial integrity. It is when these are guaranteed that citizens can go about their lives in security and hope to improve upon the quality of their circumstances,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo paid tribute to the personnel of the Police Service for their dedication and commitment to ensure law and order to make citizens safe.
To improve the peace and security of the country, he said the government would give the police whatever was required to enable them fight crime effectively.
The President said the police administration had embarked on a transformation agenda aimed at positioning the service to become the best institution in the country.
“This laudable initiative seeks to redeem the confidence, trust and the respect of the public and deepen police legitimacy, and has the full backing of the government.
“An institution such as the police service needs to renew constantly itself in order to respond adequately to the security needs of the public, and I believe Ghanaians are witnesses to the pragmatic steps being taken by the service in this regard,” he said.
He acknowledged the efforts of the police, under the leadership of the current Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo-Dampare, and members of the police management board, to intensify targeted operations in communities noted for violent crimes.
The President said special teams had been trained and positioned at defined locations to make it difficult, if not impossible, for criminals to have a field day.
The Minister for the Interior, Mr Ambrose Dery, said the intervention by the President was to make sure the police was equipped to meet the challenges of internal security of the country.
“This is to make them more professional and also working professionally without the intervention of the perception that they are being controlled by the executives and the others,” he added.
Mr Dery said, “the President knows the importance of good security for the economic transformation in the country, adding that the empowerment of the police, the equipment of the police, the training of the police and the linkages with universities now and today I can say with pride that the newly recruited police are moving forward on the agenda the President wanted,” he added.
Dr Dampare, for his part, commended the government for the continuous support to the Police Service over the years.
The IGP assured the public that the Police Service would do all it takes in ensuring peace and stability in the country.
BY ANITA NYARKO-YIRENKYI AND YAW KYEI
