Tamale, Oct. 29, GNA - The out-going Northern Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police Angwubutoge Awuni, has appealed to the government to consider providing a helicopter to the police in the Northern Region.

He said the Northern Region had very bad roads, making it difficult for the police to undertake its operations. Mr Awuin made the appeal when the Minister of Interior Mr. Martin Amidu, paid a visit to the Northern Regional Police Command as part of his three-day tour of the Northern Region.

He said the Northern Regional police had only three vehicles and that such inadequacies affected their efforts at fighting crime. Mr Awuni suggested that part of the money going to be used to buy vehicles for the police should be used to buy a helicopter for the police in the Northern Region.

Mr Amidu said the Police Council was considering how best to address the logistics problems facing the police. He said the police had only 950 vehicles and that the 23,000 personnel needed about 5,000 vehicles to carry out its operations efficiently.

Mr Amidu apologized to the people of Bunkpurugu for the action of the police which resulted in the burning of some houses saying that a committee might be set up to find out what actually went wrong. The minister also paid a condolence to the families of the police personnel who were shot dead by Johnson Kombian, the fugitive. He appealed to the police to step up measures at arresting the fugitive who had become a threat to the lives of many people. Deputy Commissioner of Police Row Anyinibisa Amuni, the in-coming Northern Regional Police Commander, said the police in the region had done their best in fighting crime. 29 Oct 10