Kumasi, Feb.18, GNA- a 25-member Ashanti Region Police Committee to advise the Police Council and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) on matters relating to the administration of the Police in the region, was on Friday inaugurated in Kumasi.

The Committee, which was chaired by the Ashanti Regional Minister, was composed of representative from the District Assemblies, Regional house of Chiefs, the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), two most senior regional police officers and a representative of the Attorney-General's office.

Inaugurating it, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister for the Interior, said the wide representation of membership of the Committee was in recognition of the partnership nature of policing in the country. He stressed that such partnership would make the Police Service one of the best in the world and probably the best in Africa and this would be unprecedented in the history of the nation.

Mr Kan-Dapaah advised members of the committee not to consider themselves as representing their individual selves but to reflect and articulate the views of the organisations they stood for. He expressed the hope that discussions of the Committee would be enriched to ensure decisions towards good policing not only in the region but also in the entire country.

Mr Kan-Dapaah urged the members to take views from the public seriously to enable the committee initiate good strategies for the police to effectively fight crime.

"We have to let the public know at reasonable intervals, the outcomes of our investigations into cases of public interest and sensitise them on the precautions that they have to take to avoid being victims of crime", he said.

Mr. Kan-Dapaah also urged the members to endeavour to understand the operations of the Police Service and reconcile this with the objectives of the Committee.

This, he said, called for regular interaction with the police personnel at all levels in the region, to encourage and motivate police personnel and enhance public confidence.

Mr Emmanuel Asamoah Owusu-Ansah, Ashanti Regional Minister, noted that the 1992 Constitution of Ghana recognised the need to devolve power to the lower strata in the State institutions. This, he said was to broaden decision-making and responsibility and to tap the knowledge and experience of the wider people in the society. Mr. Owusu-Ansah observed that the Committee was being inaugurated at a time that the Police Service was confronted with myriad of problems. He therefore, appealed to the Committee to strategise and come out with far-reaching recommendations that would guide the police to find lasting solutions to problems confronting it. Mr. Owusu-Ansah said, "with this Committee in place, the police in the region now have a channel through which their concerns will readily reach the police council. It is however, important that as members of the Committee you do not usurp the powers of police administration with unnecessary and avoidable interference". Justice Samuel Baiden, Chairman of the National Police Council, promised that the Council would do everything possible to improve the working conditions of the police to motive them to work harder. 18 Feb. 07