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Violent crime on the
increase in Ghana
Audrey Micah, Ghanadot
Accra, April 23, Ghanadot - The
rising spate of armed robbery in Ghana will soon decrease
investment opportunities in the country if proactive steps
are not taken to arrest the situation.
Only this week, two armed robbers were killed in a gun fight
with the police patrol team in Ashaiman, this is just the
latest of violent crimes that has hit
the country in recent times.
This comes against the backdrop of promises made by
President Mills administration that within its 100 days
in office, it will ensure security for all.
Available statistics from the Information Technology Unit of
the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police
Service indicated that in 2008 the police received 239,823
reports of crimes nationwide. a 6.1 percent increase over
the 2007 figure of 285,421.
Murder and robbery formed the bulk of recorded crimes,
example mass murder cases stood at 391 for 2007 and that of
2008 stood at 430. Robbery in 2008 rose to 1,449 from 1,413
the previous year.
The Director of Public Relations of the Ghana Police
Service, DSP Kwesi Ofori blames the rising cases of murder
and armed robbery on problems such as poor planning of the
city.
"2007 and 2008 recorded some increase in major crimes due to
poor city planning, poor roads, poor numbering of houses and
lack of accessibility to certain areas .. This hinders our
delivery in terms of service".
Cases of fraud also rose up from 15,542 in 2007 to 16,513 in
2008, a6.2 percent increase.However, other crimes such as
stealing and rape cases fell whereas stealing cases across
the country stood at 64,501 in 2007, it went down to 63,636,
a decline in 2008.
Rape cases also fell to 485 in 2008 from 956 in 2007, a drop
of 49.3 percent.
DSP Ofori said the situation is not out of hand as the
police is putting intensive measures to fight these crimes
in the country, adding that "from
January tol date we have done a
lot'.
Ghanadot
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