Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Minister of Defence and acting Minister of Interior, has renewed the call for more effective public collaboration with the security agencies in the war against violence and other crimes in the country.

He said there was the need for people to become security conscious and provide useful leads and information on criminals in their neighbourhood to the police and the other security agencies.

Dr Addo-Kufuor was speaking at the launching of the Police Endowment Fund in Ashanti at the Prempeh Assembly Hall in Kumasi on Friday.

The Minister asked the public not to use the unacceptable behaviour of the "few bad nuts" in the Police Service as an excuse not to support and co-operate with personnel of the Service. He, however, acknowledged that it would be difficult to elicit the needed public support if the Service did not improve on its image through the display of high-level discipline and professionalism.

Dr Addo-Kufuor said the government within the next two years would focus on addressing the problems of inadequate training facilities, accommodation and conditions of service of the police to enhance their performance.

Nana Owusu-Nsiah, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), noted that the constraints under which the police were performing their statutory duties of maintaining law and order were enormous.

He mentioned among other things the use of obsolete typewriters, inadequate computers and fax machines, lack of telephone and other communication gadgets in some police stations as factors inhibiting the efficient performance of the Service.

The IGP said it was therefore, necessary for individuals and corporate bodies to complement government's efforts and help resource the police to enable them perform.

Nana Owusu-Nsiah spoke of the determination of the Police Administration to give the Service a new image, warning that those who engage in unethical and other acts of professional misconduct would be dismissed.

Earlier in a welcoming address, Mr George Asiamah, Ashanti Regional Police Commander, said it was time Ghanaians appreciated the fact that security was expensive and assumed collective responsibility for equipping the Service.

An amount of 57 million cedis was raised at the function out of which the Ashanti Goldfields Company (AGC) contributed 25 million cedis.