Prez Alerts Police About Oil & Gas Exploration Crimes

President John Evans Atta Mills has directed the Police High Command to map out proactive measures by establishing specialized units in the service to contain any anticipated crimes associated with oil and gas exploration. Reviewing the 42nd graduation of the Ghana Police College in Accra yesterday, President Mills said the country�s oil find was going to present the Police Service with new challenges, which required measures that would enable personnel to be continuously ahead of the criminals. A total of 128 officers including 15 women graduated alongside four from the Liberia national Police after undergoing six months of training, and were conferred with the Presidential commission as Assistant Superintendent of Police. President Mills reiterated that the country would not be allowed to be a subsidiary entity for drug cartels, stressing �Government is not going to compromise our position of making Ghana an unattractive destination for the illicit drug trade.� The role of the Police Service in fighting the drug war could not be overemphasized, he said, and expressed satisfaction with the manner the Service was supporting the fight against illicit drugs in the last 11 months. The President said government was happy with the way the police was combating crime, especially armed robbery, headlong, stressing that there must be no room for criminals to operate with impunity. �Citizens of Ghana and foreigners resident in the country must move around in safety and the Police Service has the full blessing of government to combat crime and criminals headlong,� he said. �Indeed, the statistics have it that the crime rate has reduced and I commend you for the good work being done,� President Mills said but cautioned: �The successes chalked so far should not engender any false feeling of complacency and contentedness,� he added. The President gave the assurance that the government would continue to resource the police and other security agencies to carry out their mandated tasks and those on international assignments to continue to bring glory to Ghana. To ensure optimum performance in policing in the country, President Mills stressed the need for personnel to constantly build their capacity, saying �As a nation, we cannot afford to rely on outdated methods of law enforcement.� The President deplored the poor accommodation facilities of police personnel, conceding that the situation was not the best and a lot more needed to be done to quickly address the pressing issue. �It is certainly not the best for the police to keep part of their property on balconies government is taking pragmatic and concrete steps to provide more acceptable accommodation.� He said. To the graduands, he said, there was a renewed sense of growing confidence in the manner in which the Police Service was operating and urged the new officers to join the Police Administration in giving the service a new and positive image. The Sword of Honour, awarded to the Best Officer Cadet, went to John Atanga.