Bad roads, poor telecommunication services and lack of police patrol vehicles have combined to present a daunting challenge to effective policing in the Atwima-Mponua District.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Fredrick Kwadwo Oduro Asare Mensah, the District Commander, said matters were also not being helped by the fact that they “do not have the numbers”.

He said providing adequate security for the entire population was proving to be a major difficulty and called for assistance from stakeholders to rectify the situation.

The district, the second largest in the Ashanti Region in terms of land size, has over 400 communities, which are far apart from one another and linked by deplorable road network.

It is served by just two police stations – Nyinahin and Sreso-Timpom, and they have between them a total of 47 police officers.

DSP Mensah told the Ghana News Agency (GNA), that the police strength needed to be augmented to enable them to maintain strong presence and visibility.

Reporters of the nation’s wire service had visited the area under STAR-Ghana’s media auditing and tracking of development projects, an initiative launched to put a spotlight on how state resources were helping to transform the lives of the people, particularly, the rural population.

The goal is to aid transparency, promote accountability and good local governance.

DSP Mensah also complained about the poor telephone services in the area but said these notwithstanding they had been on top of their game - making good progress in the battle to bring down crime.

He said the crime rate was reducing with the total number of reported criminal cases dropping from 158 in year 2013, to 89 as of the end October, this year.

Stealing and assault topped the list of cases. There were 54 stealing cases, last year and this came down to 21 during the last 10 months.

That of assault, which stood at 39, was down to 21 during the period under review.

Some of the other crimes were threat of death, armed robbery, defilement and causing damage.