Police, Citizens must build trust to fight violent extremism – NCCE

Mr. Abass Yussif, the Krachi Nchumuru District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has called on the Ghana Police Service to build trust with citizens to help fight crimes; especially violent extremism.He said there seemed to be some mistrust between citizens and the Police affecting effective flow of information between them, thus, affecting fighting of crimes by the Police in the communities.He asked them to alter the way they deal with citizens; especially when crime is reported.Mr. Abass made the call at a Police/Community Dialogue Session organised by NCCE with support from the European Union for the Ghana Police Service and citizens of Konado, a community in the Krachi Nchumuru District of the Oti Region.He said citizens had always complained that when criminals were reported to the police nothing was being done and the next moment, the criminals were seen walking and boasting in town.'These citizens complain is not motivating enough to report crimes to the Police,' he said.Mr. Abass said violent extremist groups like ISIS, Al-Qeeda, Boko Haram, among other terrorist groups were working in countries surrounding Ghana and were looking for the least opportunity to carry out their activities in the country.This, he said, needed a serious collaboration as the Police alone could not fight.He, therefore, called on the citizens to monitor the activities of strangers to their communities and report suspicious actions to the Police for action.Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Vincent Foli, the District Police Commander called on the citizens to stop shielding criminals in the name of being their family members or tribe men.ASP Foli said all citizens were expected to be law-abiding and desist from committing crimes.He said when criminals were brought to the Police, they were taken through lawful processes to help reform them.The District Commander said the fight against violent extremism was a shared responsibility of every citizen and called on all to report crimes to them for swift action.He said violent extremist groups had started operating everywhere in the country and needed to be flashed out.He said they introduced children and the youth into taking hard drugs such as tramadol and cocaine, which would go a long way to destroy their future.ASP Foli assured citizens that the doors to his office were always open and that they should not be afraid to approach him to get their issues resolved.Source: Ghana News Agency