Yendi NCCE stresses strong police-community relation to mitigate extremist threats

Mr Kassim Osman, Yendi Municipal Director for the National Commission for NCCE Director, is calling for a strong relation between Police and the community to foster an environment necessary for identifying and mitigating extremist threats.He explained that traditional policing methods alone were inadequate to address the intricate challenges of violent extremism.The Director made the call when the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) engaged stakeholders on preventing and containing violent extremism.Speaking at the event at Yendi, the dialogue reflected the Commission's shared dedication to tackling violent extremism, which posed risk to national security.The event dubbed: 'Police Community Dialogue', was part of the NCCE's Preventing and Containing Violent Extremism (PCVE) campaign, being implemented in Northern Ghana, with support from the European Union.The event, attended by officials from the Ghana Police Service and community members, was to foster trust as well as strengthen commun ity-Police relations.It was also attended by representatives of the various security services, members of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), the youth and opinion leaders.Mr Osman repeated that traditional policing methods alone were inadequate to address the intricate challenges of violent extremism, adding a strong relationship between Police and the community was essential to foster an environment necessary for identifying and mitigating extremist threats.Mr Osman said: 'This activity is also to lay the groundwork for trust between the Police and community members guaranteeing that everyone feels listened to, honoured and appreciated.'He called for collaboration among community members towards building resilience against threats of violent extremism.Chief Superintendent of Police Abraham Apusiyine, Yendi Municipal Divisional Police Commander, bemoaned the interference from chiefs and opinion leaders during arrests, and called for an end to such interferences.He noted that police-co mmunity relation was important as it complemented the role of the Ghana Police Service in preventing violent extremism.Assistant Superintendent of Immigration (ASI) Amo Boahene, a representative of the Ghana Immigration Service, emphasised need for citizens to support in border security management and urged participants to cooperate with security personnel in the fight against violent extremism.Kuga Naa Abdulai Adam, Kingmaker of Dagbon, commended NCCE for the initiative, and pledged the community's collaboration with security agencies in the area.He encouraged the Police to address crime without fear, calling on political party leaders to conduct clean campaigns for peaceful elections.Participants, during an interactive session, urged the security services to treat witnesses of crimes with respect to encourage people to report crimes without hesitation.Source: Ghana News Agency