Police haven't lost fight against armed robbers – Interior Minister

The Minister of the Interior, Mr Ambrose Dery, has assured the public that the police have not lost the battle against armed robbers who have increased the tempo of their robberies recently.

He said the police were containing the situation, as they had made some arrests in connection with previous robberies and were gathering intelligence to arrest those who robbed Royal Motors in Accra last Tuesday.

Speaking with journalists at the Parliament House in Accra Wednesday, Mr Dery said: "I want to assure you that we are containing the situation very effectively. I can assure you that the police have not lost control at all."

There have been reported cases of robberies in Accra, Kumasi and other parts of the country recently.

The most recent incident happened last Tuesday when four suspected armed robbers allegedly stormed Royal Motors, an automobile company at the Industrial Area in Accra, and made away with thousands of cedis of the company’s sales.

Change of modus operandi

Mr Dery said during the Christmas festivities, the Police Administration embarked on ‘Operation Calm Lives’ and effectively kept all criminals at bay.

However, he said, it seemed to security capos that in the last 10 days there had been a series of robbery cases.

Besides, he said, the robbers had now changed their targets and were dealing with forex bureaux, mobile money transfer and other money joints.

He said the police had arrested seven suspects in connection with the forex bureau cases and were pursuing other leads.

He said last Tuesday's robbery at the Industrial Area in Accra was delicate and that the police "wanted to be sure that we did not lose one single life".

Mr Dery said if the police had helicopters, they could have followed the robbers wherever they were going to effect their arrest, saying that pursuing the robbers in a traffic situation, which would involve interactions with people, could have led to loss of innocent lives.

Effective measures

He said the police would follow through the President’s promise to secure helicopters for the Police Service.

He said arrangements were underway for the procurement of an additional 200 vehicles for the police.

Besides, Mr Dery said, the police would speed up processes for the procurement of logistics from the GH¢800 million that the President had committed to be allocated to the police.

He said some of the logistics would require permits from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and indicated that the government would speed up the process

Reactive policing

The minister dismissed the suggestion that the police had been reactive, instead of proactive, in their approach.

He said what the police needed to do was to enhance their simultaneous reaction.