Tamale, Jan. 1, GNA - Personnel of the Ghana Police Service have been urged to be guided by the ethics of their profession in the performance of their duties, especially when dealing with members of civil society.

They should be patient and tolerant on issues involving them and the public so as to cut a good image for the profession and improve relations with the people.

Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, Northern Regional Minister made the call at this year's celebration of West African Soldiers Social Activity (WASSA) of the Northern Regional Police Command in Tamale on Friday.

"Whatever you do, your behaviour and understanding should be in conformity with the ethics of your profession", he pointed out. The forum offered the Regional Command the opportunity to socialise with the rank and file of the Police Service in the Region and also to take stock of their operations during the year and to plan into the future.

Traditional rulers, departmental heads, members of civil society organisations and other security personnel attended the forum. Alhaji Boniface said: "taking critical scrutiny of the year, I wish to commend the Northern Regional Police Command and other security agencies for working relentlessly to ensure peace throughout the year". "The combined efforts of the security agencies has also helped to reduce armed robbery and conflicts in the Region", he added.

The Northern Police Commander, Mr Ephraim O. Brakatu noted that despite the numerous constraints and challenges facing the Police Service in the Region, they had worked hard to sustain peace in the area.

He said with prudent measures adopted, armed robbery and road traffic accidents, which use to be threat to peace and security had for the past months been kept under control.

"For instance, the Regional Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) in the Region has from January to December 27, 2005 increased its activities, which has helped to reduce accident cases from 266 in 2004 to 193 this year while court fines on traffic offences accrued 80,550,000 cedis to the state", he said.

Mr Brakatu who is also Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) announced that the Regional Police Command had put measures in place to weed out criminals from their hideouts and called on the public to cooperate with the police in that direction.

He appealed to people with genuine grievances to use the appropriate processes to secure justice and avoid taking the law into their own hands, pointing out that the law enforcement agencies would not sit idle while law and order was tampered with unduly.