Visibility Police Lives In Danger
In separate interactions with some of the personnel in Tema and Ashaiman, they said there were times they spotted heavily armed notorious civilians; however, they could not be bold to encounter the criminals because they the police had nothing to counter.
The visibility police personnel, therefore, sit under trees or obscure shades, and what they told ghnewsnow.com was they needed to first take cover before any gun wielding criminal running amok could open fire on them should they be spotted in their uniform.
The police personnel who stood at post on duty could not understand why civilians would carry sophisticated guns for their illegal operations but they, who had been trained to handle guns, would go on duty unarmed.
Another worrying operation deficiency is that the visibility police have no walkie-talkie to send bi-directional radio message to routes they spot fleeing criminals take for easy tracking.
The men in black said they sometimes had little or no call credit on their personal cell phones to call the next police station when they spotted such fleeing hardcore gun wielding criminals.
At Atadeka, Kubekro, Appolonia, Zenu, Santeo and Katamanso, all in the Kpone-Katamanso District where the illegal activities of land guards are endemic, visibility police at the various areas are not armed.
Consequently, the land guards, who have access to sophisticated guns including AK 47, are able to vandalise innocent developers’ properties and maim or kill persons who dare stand in their way.
On the morning of Tuesday August 16, some gunmen on unregistered motorbikes went on a shooting spree at Atadeka.
Standing in the middle of the Zenu-Atadeka road, the gunmen fired about 30 live bullets into the office of Setho Classic Group of Companies, leaving one staff of the company sustaining gun wound on the arm.
The gunmen, before their operation, rode pass three unarmed visibility police, and after their operation, they bravely rode pass in front of the men in black who had fled for their lives.
According to eye witnesses, the unarmed police personnel ran for cover when they saw the gunmen open fire into the office of Setho Classic Group of Companies.
Janet Duodu, an eye witness, told ghnewsnow.com that one of the police personnel borrowed her mobile phone to call the Ashaiman Divisional Police Command who deployed some armed police personnel to the location, but before they arrived, the gunmen had sped away.
Another eye witness, Alhassan Issahaku, told ghnewsnow.com that where the unarmed visibility police personnel took cover was not far from the crime scene, and so believed that had the police personnel been armed, they could have opened fire at the criminals.
The unarmed visibility police personnel confirmed to ghnewsnow.com that they needed to run for their lives because the unmasked gunmen were wielding two AK 47 rifles and they were shooting indiscriminately into the Setho Classic building.
“If we were armed, we could have countered those gunmen,” one of the worried police personnel explained.
They said motorists, residents and criminals in the area had observed that the police in the area were not armed; therefore, they could disregard road traffic regulations, disturbed public peace by shooting indiscriminately even in broad day.
They said though they had sworn an oath to protect lives and properties, they would not risk their lives where they were deficient with accoutrement to fight crime while on duty.
Story By : Inusa Musah
