Entertainment of Tuesday, 13 September 2005

Source: GNA

Police cautions FM Radio Stations

Accra, Sept. 13, GNA - The Greater Accra Police Command on Tuesday cautioned FM Radio stations, especially radio presenters to be carefull about their utterances so that they did not create disunity, contempt and rancour among Police officers in their bid to combat crime.

"The Accra Regional Police Command reinforces its position that Policemen and Policewomen on the ground sacrificing their lives 24 hours combating robbers against hardened criminals; should not be ridiculed on radio."

A statement signed by the Mr Jordan Quaye, of the Accra Police Public Relations, said it was unfortunate and demoralising when certain "un-developmental and divisive discussions are encouraged on the radio".

The statement reminded the public that crime prevention and the fight against crime was collective and done in team spirit and not by any single individual and that all hands must be on deck in this vein. The Police said stringent measures and strategies that had been put in place administratively and operationally to combat crime was yielding fruitful results.

The statement said since the week ending September 10, to date, no robbery case had been reported nor recorded and many robbery suspects have been arrested.

The Police noted that some of the discussions on some of the FM stations "unfortunately sometimes implied that nothing has been done on these robberies, which serve as a disincentive to the Police on the ground".

The statement urged all FM stations to crosscheck any alleged criminal offence before going public and they should try to encourage discussions that would unite the Police, religions, ethnic groups, politicians and security personnel in the fight against crime.