Sekondi, Aug. 05 -GNA-Mr. Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment on Friday suggested that the Ghana Police Service should be decentralised to enhance its operation by offering quick response to the needs of the Service at all levels.

The Minister made the suggestion when he met the staff and members of the Shama-Ahanta East Metropolitan Assembly at Sekondi to round off his five-day working visit to selected districts in the Western Region. He noted that the bureaucracy under which, the service operates continued to adversely affect administrative efficiency and effectiveness. "The over-dependence on headquarters in Accra always even for the supply of logistics, including vehicles, had sometimes made them less effectives" he said.

Mr. Asamaoah-Boateng said the various district assemblies could be empowered to provide accommodation, transport, computers and other basic facilities to the police service to make them responsive to the needs of the various assemblies. "They know most of the trouble spots in each community but look on helplessly due to the lack of resources and logistics", he stressed. Mr. Asamoah-Boateng said community policing was one of the effective ways of combating crime in any society and urged the district assemblies to liase with the Police in that direction.

Mr. Philip K. Nkrumah, Chief Executive of the Shama Ahanta East Metropolitan Assembly said peace was the bedrock of development and called on the people to work towards achieving unity to move the area's development agenda forward.