Deployment of Police, key to ensuring law and order during the yuletide

The Ghana Police Service yesterday announced that it was going to deploy at least 15,000 personnel during the Christmas and the New Year festivities.

Speaking to the Ghanaian Times in an exclusive interview, Commissioner of Police (COP) George Alex Mensah, the Director-General of Police Operations, said the deployment is to ensure law and order during the Christmas and the New Year festivities.

This indeed must be new to all peace loving citizens who would want to go about their business peacefully before, during and after the festivities.

Although this is not the first time that the police are deploying men during special occasions to ensure law and order; the mere announcement always signals hope and assurance that there is adequate securing around these special occasions.

This is because, often times, these are the periods that criminals and other miscreants chose to dispossess people of their property.

Criminals strike at these times because members of the public would be spending a lot of money shopping for the festivities and therefore, become easy prey during the period.

They attack and rob members of the public where there is no security presence and the population is small.

That is why the Ghanaian Times applauds the Ghana Police Service for making it a ritual to deploy men every year to churches, residential areas, shopping malls, markets and other public places to protect lives and property.

However, while commending the police for the sacrifices they make in protecting the citizenry, we must caution the public to ensure their personal security not only during the period but at all times.

Criminals do not undertake their adventure only on special occasions. They are always on the attack and carry out their nefarious activities with impunity.

It is, therefore, important for everyone to increase the level of personal security and to look out for strange characters in their vicinities.

The police would do their bit but they need the cooperation of citizens to provide effective policing so it behooves everyone to cooperate with them to deliver on their mandate.

We urge the public to be ready to provide information and leads to the law enforcement agencies to enable them to apprehend the miscreant among us.

We also call on the government to provide the police with necessary logistics to enable them spread out to all corners of the country to provide protection for the people.

We would also like to ask the public to show respect to the police and desist from attacking them at the least provocation.

With cooperation and unity of purpose, the police can rise to the occasion and protect every citizen.