Tamale, Aug 27, GNA – The Northern Regional Police command has appealed to the higher authorities to beef up the number of police personnel in the area to ensure law and order.

It said the few personnel available, though effective, have been overstretched and often resulted in the withdrawal of personnel sent to the region for other operations to perform patrol duties which should not have been the case.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) George Tuffour, Northern Regional Police Commander, raised these concerns in Tamale on Friday in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) where he spoke on varied issues confronting the operations of the command in the region.

He said inadequate personnel was not the only problem but logistics had been a major bane making the command to rely on weak and rickety vehicles for patrol duties.

ACP Tuffour said though the number of robust vehicles for the region had increased, it was far from adequate to effectively patrol the vast land mark of the region.

He, however, indicated that the inadequate logistics and personnel should not be an excuse for non-performance and expressed the hope that the command would do all it could to provide security for residents within its limited resources.

A ratio of one policeman is to 500 people has been internationally accepted as an ideal situation but Ghana was yet to meet that target, he said.

ACP Tuffour said the recent spate of robbery incidents in the region was surprising because he had kept effective operational duties on the ground to handle the situation saying he was saddened by the incident hence the need to caution drivers to strictly adhere to escort by the police patrol terms at vantage points to ensure the safety of travellers.

The commander said the policy of police escorting fleet of vehicles travelling from Tamale to Bolgatanga was still enforced and urged commercial drivers to comply to avoid being robbed.

He spoke of positive development in the regional command which include the repainting of the entire administration block to give a positive image of the police and plans to establish a clinic to take care of the health needs of the personnel.

ACP Tuffour commended the personnel in the region for their discipline to carry out orders to ensure effective policing.