Tamale, Dec 4, GNA- Mr Patrick Acheampong, Inspector General of Police (IGP) has appealed to communities to assist the government to build police stations and residential facilities for the personnel of the police service since government alone cannot provide these facilities.

He said the communities could do this by rehabilitating abandoned old structures in their areas to serve as police stations while at liaising with their District Assemblies through the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLRD) to use part of their Common Fund to construct new police stations in their districts.

Mr Acheampong who is on a two-week familiarisation tour of the Northern Region to interact with the officers and men of the service, said this when he paid a courtesy call on the Gulkpema Naa Ziblim Abdulai, Regent of Gulkpegu at his palace on Saturday. The IGP said some District Assemblies in the Upper East and West Regions were currently constructing police stations at Zebilla and Bongo in the Upper East Region and Gwollu in the Upper West Region. He announced that plans were far advanced to build a police Trainining School in Tamale to train more men to maintain law and order and also protect life and property to allow the ordinary citizen go about his daily work peacefully.

Commenting on an issue raised by the Gulkpema Naa concerning the removal of the police barrier at Datoyili to Fulfuso in the West Gonja District the IGP explained that under the ECOWAS protocol every country was supposed to have only four barriers for entry of vehicles from neighbouring countries.

Gulkpema Naa Abdulai appealed to the IGP to post more policemen to the region since it was too vast for the limited number of policemen to manage the problems of the region efficiently and effectively.

He also appealed to the government to provide the police with the needed logistics and resources to enable them to carry out their duties and noted that sometimes when a crises developed the police lacked vehicles to reach the place on time.

Naa Abdulai also appealed to government to build a modern police administration block for the Tamale Metropolis, saying that the old block did not befit the status of the metropolis. Ealier, the IGP paid a courtesy call on the Northern Regional Minister Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface who briefed him on the current situation in the region.

Alhaji Boniface commended the Mr Ephraim Barakutu, Northern Regional Police Commander on the wonderful work they were doing in spite of the constraints under which they were working. Mr. Acheampong paid similar courtesy calls on the Dakpema Naa Richard Alhassan and the Chief Iman of the Tamale Central Mosque, Sheik Adam Abdualai who assured him that there was now relative peace in the Region and pledged to cooperate with the police to maintain law and order.