A police post has been commissioned at Kotei, a suburb near the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, to address cases of armed robbery and rape being perpetuated against its residents, most of who are students of the university.

DCOP Kofi Boakye, Ashanti Regional Police Commander, who commissioned the police post, also handed over a laptop and four motorbikes provided by the authorities of the university to help check criminal activities in Kotei and its environs.

The Regional Police Commander expressed his gratitude to the Chancellor and authorities of the university for the assistance in providing a secure atmosphere for academic work.

DCOP Boakye tasked nananom to provide funds from the proceeds of sale of lands for the building of a befitting police station for residents in the area. He said, considering the kind of buildings and hostels springing up all over the place, a police station would be in the best interest of the people.

He also lamented over the refusal of hostel owners to pay dues to the watchdog committees to help them complement the efforts of security personnel, and announced that he was going to make sure any hostel without a fence wall and, at least, one security guard, would not be allowed to operate.

Professor W.O. Ellis, Vice Chancellor of KNUST, explained that with the expansion of academic programmes in the university over the years, the student number had also increased, making it necessary for students to live outside the main campus.

This, he said, had transformed most of the surrounding communities into university villages, bustling with different types of economic activities, which had resulted in an extra strain on the communities, especially, with respect to security and other social amenities, as some of the university staff were living in the communities.

According to him, in tandem with their mission to provide an environment for teaching, research and entrepreneurship training in science and technology for the industrial and social-economic development of Ghana, Africa and other nations, it was imperative that they do all in their power to ensure the security of their students and staff, especially, those who, for one reason or the other, have had to reside off-campus and commute to the university on a daily basis.

He revealed that the university had benefited from the co-operation of the country’s security agencies, especially, the police and military, in providing day and night patrols within the campus, as well as security intelligence information from the BNI, Immigration Service and Fire Service.

He said the police posts were among attempts to beef up security and make the university and its surrounding communities, where most of their students reside, safer. He stated that four motorbikes had been acquired in their attempt to improve the response time of the police, which will be used strictly for community patrol duties by personnel of the police posts.

The Vice Chancellor also announced the provision of a laptop to the division to help them in their data-base management and crime information processing, while the District Police Command had received one motorbike and a computer to facilitate mobility and data processing.