Crime upsurge: Blame dissolution of Buffalo Unit - Security analyst

The disbandment of the Buffalo Unit of the Ghana Police Service is a contributor to the upsurge in crime in the Ashanti Region, security analyst David Agbey has said.

There have been several reports of crime and violence from the region lately, the most recent being the beating and tasering to death of 22-year-old Richard Osei, on Thursday May 26, by some police officers at Krofuom on suspicion that the deceased was part of a gang that terrorised residents in the area.

Also, the Kumasi Metropolitan Agriculture Officer, Joseph Baah Tweneboah, who doubled as a polling station chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party, was shot dead on Tuesday May 31 by unidentified men believed to be armed robbers at his private residence at Abuontem New Site.

On May 19, a mufti-wearing police officer, Frank Essel, with the Police SWAT team was killed in his car at the premises of a hotel at Denkyembuoso within the same region by masked men.

Though Mr Agbey was quick to point out that these crimes did not mean the police had been overwhelmed, he nonetheless said they could have been forestalled or better combatted had the special police force been in place.

Speaking with Nana Agyen Barima on Accra100.5FM’s News on Wednesday June 1, Mr Agbey said: “During the former Alhassan Mohammed’s reign as IGP, he made some changes in the police administration, which has negatively affected some aspect of its work. There was a special force called the Buffalo Unit within the Ghana Police Service, who were formidable. When he was in office, he carried out a policy alignment among other things, which led to the dissolution of the Buffalo Unit. That Buffalo Unit that he disbanded seems to be having a negative effect on police operations”.

“So, I will urge that the current IGP, John Kudalor, if he can do some reinforcement, so that the Buffalo Unit can be reformed to enable the security service return to its past, it will help.”

The Buffalo Unit of the Ghana Police Service was formed to protect life and property in the country, but was reorganised and renamed the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Bravo Unit in 2014.