By Alfred Kutajera Afiiwo
Balo (UE/R), July 18, GNA – The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has held a day’s community Police dialogue at Balo near Paga in the Kassena/Nankana West District.
The aim of the dialogue session is to enhance trust between the Police and community for effective law enforcement and community safety.
The dialogue session brought together community leaders, women, men, the youth, and security agencies.
In an opening remark, Mr Robert Dampare, the Kassena-Nankana West District Director of the NCCE, indicated that effective policing is directly related to how well residents and police work together as partners in ensuring peace and security.
“Attitudes and perceptions of residents towards Police officers, and vice versa, have a major impact on the actual level of preparedness for cooperation in crime prevention and crime reduction,” he said.
He said the dialogue session aimed at creating a platform where officials of the Ghana Police Service and community members will interact to defuse suspicion and build trust to improve Police-community relations and confidence.
Mr Dampare stressed that ‘the NCCE is of the view that this dialogue would establish a foundation of trust between the police and community members, ensuring that everyone feels heard, respected, and valued.
“It would also enhance mutual understanding of the challenges and perspectives faced by both the police and the community in addressing crime-related challenges.”
The dialogue was organised by the NCCE with support from the European Union through the Preventing and Containing Violence Extremism (PCVE) in the Northern Regions of Ghana project.
Inspector Dramani Mahama, the Station Officer of the Paga Command of the Ghana Police Service called on the people to see the Police as their friends and not hesitate to report any suspected crime to them.
He assured them that the Police would never disclose the identity of those who would report crime to them.
He pledged the Police support to continue to protect them all the time but also noted that the public must also obey law and order, adding that Police visibility in the community would soon be enhanced.
He advised the community members not to take the law into their own hands when they catch any person committing a crime but rather report such persons to the Police.
“Do not use violence to resolve problems in the community, use proper channels,” he added.
He urged them to disassociate themselves from all forms of violence as the country approached general elections.
“People would incite you to cause mayhem for their benefit but never allow yourselves to be used by such characters,” he said.
Assistant Superintendent of Immigration, Issifu Awal Tobingale of the Paga Sector Command of the Ghana Immigration Service, called on the community members to help the security agencies ensure the safety of the people by reporting suspected movement of unknown people in the community to the security agencies.
He called on the leaders of the community to desist from providing places of settlement to undocumented foreigners since such activities posed dangers to the community and the country, but rather report such persons to the security agencies.
The community members used the dialogue to voice out their worries over the work of the police.
They expressed their disappointment over the police’s late response to stress calls in the area and their inability to arrest armed men who have on a number of occasions attacked and robbed community members at the Nania forest, near Paga.
GNA