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General News of Saturday, 25 April 2015

Source: The Chronicle

MTTU most corrupt in Police Service - Commander

Deputy Ashanti Regional Police Commander, ACP Ampofo Duku has frowned on corrupt practices among police personnel and wondered why the afro barometer would not declare the police service as the most corrupt, with their continued indulgence in it.

He revealed that personnel at the three units of the Police Service; namely Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU), Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Charge office are corrupt, citing the MTTU as the most corrupt of all, as they take monies concealed in driving licences in the open.

ACP Duku also said personnel at the charge office and CID were also tarnishing the image of the police service by taking monies before granting bail to suspects. He called for attitudinal change from such units to save the image of the police and to win the confidence of the general public.

Addressing an MTTU capacity building workshop organized by the National Road Safety Commission in collaboration with the Ashanti regional police command, the police chief cautioned personnel at the MTTU of the Ghana Police Service against random traffic checks on the major roads during rush hour, when commuters and passengers are busy going to work.

Participants were drawn from the districts and Divisions, the Ambulance service and NRSC to evaluate the activities of the MTTU over the period and the way forward. AC Duku said motor traffic checks should be minimized in order to avoid unnecessary traffic jams or inconveniences on the general public.

According to him, such activities apart from controlling traffic by police personnel on our roads create traffic and inconvenience on the roads and said they were not acceptable by the Police Service.

The Police Commander lamented on the attitude of some of the personnel who even assume law onto themselves and reminded them that they are first and foremost ambassadors of the Ghana Police Service and, therefore, working for mother Ghana.

Supt. Frank Abrokwah, Regional MTTD Commander, also commended the participants, and expressed the hope that the workshop would contribute new ideas to their operations to perform duties professionally and improve upon the discharge of duty.

He reported an improvement in road crashes saying the total reported cases of road crashed in the first quarter of 2014 stood at 373 with 58 loses of lives while the first quarter of 2015 recorded 288 with 40 loses of lives saying there was still more room for improvement and urged them bring roads accidents or carnage on our roads to the barest minimum.

Mr. Thomas Boakye Boateng, Ashanti Regional manager of National Road Safety Commission, urged police personnel to enforce road safety laws to enhance road safety. According to him, Ashanti region was rated the best in terms of reduced crashes on the road with 40 currently compared to 59 last year.

He mentioned driving under the influence of alcohol, speeding, fatigue, excessive loading (Axle load), High pedestrians deaths, Disabled vehicles, High passenger deaths as major challenges of the Commission.