NDC primaries: Police deploy personnel

The Police Administration has deployed more than 21,000 police personnel, both uniformed and plain-clothes, to monitor and ensure the smooth conduct of the presidential and parliamentary primaries of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) tomorrow, Saturday, November 21, 2015.

So far, the police have identified 69 flash points or trouble spots in the country where more attention will be focused to ensure the peaceful conduct of the primaries.

The NDC will, tomorrow, conduct its presidential and parliamentary primaries throughout the country.

Flash points

The police said the Greater Accra Region topped the list with 13 flash points, followed closely by the Volta Region with nine and the Northern and Western regions with seven each. 

The rest are Eastern Region, six flash points; Brong-Ahafo, five; Central, three; Ashanti, six; Upper East, five, and Upper West, six.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic in  Accra yesterday, the Director General in charge of the Public Affairs Department of the Ghana Police Service, DCOP Rev. David Nenyi Ampah-Bennin, said the police had adopted a three-tier deployment strategy to monitor the primaries.

He said there were more than 8,000 polling stations and police personnel would be deployed to all the stations, with extra personnel at the various flash points.

Crash barriers

He said under the three-tier system, crash barriers would be mounted at all vantage points to screen people who would enter those areas to exercise their franchise.

DCOP Ampah-Bennin said there would also be general patrols,  and motorbike, visibility and mobile patrols at designated locations to forestall any unforeseen circumstances.

He said there would also be back-up patrol teams which would be stationed at various points who would quickly respond to threats, emergencies and any other disturbances at the polling stations.

He added that the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) would also be deployed under the command of senior police officers to ensure free flow of traffic in their various jurisdictions and other critical intersections and points where voting would take place.

CID personnel

He said overt security personnel from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) would also be deployed wearing marked CID jackets to gather intelligence on the ground and prevent people from committing crimes.

“Indeed, we are also working with the leadership of the party to ensure that the various flash points are given the necessary attention to forestall any [negative] occurrences,” DCOP Ampah-Bennin said.