Let’s not give criminals breathing space

The reported cases of attacks on police personnel across the country send worrying signals to citizens as far as security is concerned.

If the people who are to maintain law and order are themselves not safe and are being attacked by criminal gangs then what is the fate of the unarmed civilians?

We do not have the statistics but over the last one month or so, some policemen have died in the line of duty, casting doubts in the minds of a section of the people that our country is not safe from the activities of hoodlums.

It will be out of place to say that attacks on the police began only this year. Far from that, but the fact that the trend is becoming a national security concern must stir all of us into action.

In any society that the rule of law is not respected, the people descend into the jungle where only the strong and bully can survive.

When that becomes the order of the day, might becomes right and the society is ruled by men instead of the law.

From the look of things, some of our compatriots and even those who are benefiting from our hospitality have decided to use illegal means to earn their keep in the country.

Sometimes society is blamed for the rising crime rate because some believe that economic hardships are forcing some of the people into crime as a means of survival.

But the question is, if life has become so unbearable in our country, why is it that we are all not into crime?

Certainly, there must be something wrong with the elements who think the only way they can survive is by engaging in criminal activities.

It has become common in recent years for criminal elements to resort to the use of guns to rob, maim or even kill innocent citizens whom they attack at night or in broad daylight.

Last Thursday at Lapaz in Accra, two persons, believed to be armed robbers, shot two policemen on community policing, killing one and injuring the other who is hospitalised.

The Daily Graphic does not want to believe that the police are overwhelmed by the activities of the criminal gangs.

Our security personnel have the capacity to rise up to the occasion even on international duties and there is no way they cannot deal with the criminals in our communities.

The police should not be deterred by these elements in the hit-and-run game against their personnel and innocent citizens.

We appeal to the Police Administration not to hesitate to call for assistance from sister security agencies, including the Ghana Armed Forces, to break the back of the criminals.

The people need reassurance from the security agencies that the security of their personnel and their properties are guaranteed.

The criminal gangs live in the communities and some of them are known as such. This explains why the police have always stressed the need for community involvement in crime combat.

The police must intensify the visibility programme and the neighbourhood watch committees to assist in crime combat in the country.

The Daily Graphic calls on the police to unleash its intelligence network on the criminals, after all the police have more sophisticated resources to maintain law and order.

The police must demonstrate in no uncertain terms that the criminals can strike like it happened at Lapaz and run but they cannot hide.

It is for this reason that we appeal to the police to smoke out the two robbers from their hideouts and take the fight to the rest of the criminals out there in order to rid our society of those who want to create insecurity conditions in the country.