Wa, Sept. 26, GNA - Mr Kofi Danso Adei-Akyeampong, Upper West Region= al Police Commander, has said the 469 police personnel serving the region was inadequate and posed a challenge to combating crime in the region. He said with an estimated population of 688,101 and a land size of 18,476 square kilometres, the police population ratio in the region is 1:1,467 people adding that this was low when compared to the national ratio of 1:1,007.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr Adei Acheampong, said this during a press briefing at Wa on Monday. ACP Acheampong said due to the lack of Inspectors and Chief Inspectors= , most of the police stations in the region were being manned by Sergeants an= d Corporals. He said Wellembelle, Babile and Bussie Stations were manned by Sergeants while Wechiau, Hamile, Heng and Nandom Stations were controlled b= y Corporals. This, he said was a serious setback which must be addressed with urgency.

ACP Acheampong said from January to August this year, the region recorded a total of 12 robbery cases and in order to curb the situation the police had started providing police escorts for commercial vehicles to protect them from being attacked on the high ways.

He said motor theft was increasingly becoming high in the Municipality and that four people have been arrested and given jail terms of four years each for stealing motor cycles.

ACP Acheampong said the use of narcotic drugs, the rise in cattle rustling, illegal mining, human trafficking and child labour were alarming and that adequate measures were being put in place to check these offences. He said from January, a total of 87 traffic offenders were arrested an= d out of this, 58 of them were prosecuted and fines totalling GH¢8,588.00 were realized. ACP Acheampong commended the media for their support and called for more collaboration between the police and the media to fight crime in the society.