Wa, March 22, GNA - Mr Alex Bedie, Upper West Regional Police Commander, has described the 2009 security situation in the region as not the best despite improvement over the previous year.

He cited armed robbery, cattle rustling, sexual offence and chieftaincy dispute as some of the threatening criminal activities that disturbed the peace of the region last year.

The Commander, who said this during an end-of-year get-together at Wa on Friday, noted that the victims of the armed robberies were mainly innocent travelers on their way to board early morning buses. He said despite the security challenges, available statistics had shown that the year 2009 recorded lower incidents as compared to that of 2008. Mr Bedie said defilement cases dropped sharply from 30 in 2008 to 14 in 2009 representing 53.3 per cent.

A total of 23 armed robbery cases were reported in 2008 as against 19 cases in 2009 representing 17.4 per cent decrease. He said, however, that only rape recorded a slight increase from seven in 2008 to nine cases in 2009.

With respect to murder, Mr Bedie noted that 11 people were murdered for the 2008 and 2009 years. He said highway robbery was common in the region and cited lack of adequate personnel and accommodation as the major challenges facing the police. The Regional Police Commander appealed to Mr Mahmud Khalid, Upper West Regional Minister to ensure that health personnel were posted to man the police clinic.

The clinic, he said, had been completed but had since not been put to use because of the lack of health personnel. Mr Bedie noted that despite these challenges, the Upper West Region could still be described as one of the peaceful regions in the country. He gave the assurance that the police would continue to perform its functions professionally to sustain the peace in the region. Mr Khalid urged the police to work closely with other stakeholders, especially members of the media to help educate the people on the need to volunteer information to the police to fight crime. He said government would continue to play its role of resourcing the security services for them to function properly.