The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Paul Tawiah Quaye, has urged police personnel in the Upper East Region to promote cordial relationship with the public.

He said through the Neighborhood Watch Programme under the Community Policing Concept, the police were expected to bring policing to the door steps of the people and to be involved in identifying some security concerns peculiar to communities.

Mr. Quaye said this when he called on the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr. Mark Woyongo, during a tour of the region.

He said promoting cordial relationship with the public would enable the police service to win the trust and confidence of the populace and encourage information flow between them.

In this regard, he said, the British government had assisted the service by constructing a national community policing headquarters in the capital.

Mr. Quaye said a National Police Strategy Plan, which is at an implementation stage, would help the police service to identify future development and growth plans in the service.

A decentralized change management term would also be developed for the regions and districts to enable them develop their own roll up plans for enhanced policing, he added.

Mr. Quaye, said there were still some remnants of old trends of policing being practiced in recent times, but there were conscious efforts to encourage more democratic policing which would allow the police to stand out of party political activities and support electioneering processes and structures to ensure equal grounds for all.

The IGP called for an improvement in the relationship between the Police Command and the Coordinating Councils in the regions, to nib in the bud the major security concerns in the region.

He appealed to District Assemblies to complement the government’s efforts at providing basic facilities and needs of the police.

He said providing accommodation for service personnel in the region was a priority and added that a housing project for 250 police personnel in the Bawku municipality was ongoing.

Mr. Woyongo commended the police in the region for their efforts at maintaining law and order.

The Minister emphasized the need for accommodation for police personnel in the region, adding that most of them lived in rented apartments which posed a difficulty at mobilizing them in times of need.**