Homeless Police personnel sleeping under staircases.

Koforidua, June 25, GNA- Some police personnel posted to the Eastern Regional command of the Service are sleeping under staircases for the lack of residential accommodation. Among them are newly passed out personnel who have been posted to the region, and others who have been transferred from other stations. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Stephen Andoh-Kwoffie, Eastern Regional Police Commander, disclosed this in an interview with the GNA at Koforidua.

He stated that the inefficiency in the police service was not due to inadequate personnel alone but also as a result of the lack of logistics that was making it difficult for them to function efficiently. He said apart from inadequate accommodation to house police personnel, the lack of vehicles was also hampering their ability to embark on night patrols on the highways. DCOP Andoh-Kwoffie who has been newly appointed regional commander, said despite all those constraints the police was poised to halt criminal activities. He, therefore, called on the public to support them by volunteering information.

He said just like every establishment where information was a critical resource, the police could not perform better without the public's collaboration by being vigilant and reporting any suspicious persons and activities.

"Criminals have no isolated suburb, they live among us and so it is only when we give the police information on suspicious characters that our societies will be free of crime".

He said the presence of even two police personnel in the vicinity could put fear in criminals and all their accomplices. DCOP Andoh-Kwoffie advised people who wish to volunteer information to the police to either call the police phone line or find a suitable meeting place so that they did not become targets. He refuted allegations that informants were often not given protection, and said it was the informants who rather gave themselves out by bragging during conversation with others about how close they are to the police.