Assistant Commissioner of Police ACP), James Abass Abaa, Deputy Eastern Regional Police Commander, has stated that the Community Policing Unit (CPU) is imperative for building a trusted relationship between the police and communities for the needed data on intelligence for crime control.

He said the absence of that community concept had led to mistrust between the police and the communities, resulting in the withholding of vital information and signals that were good for intelligence in crime combating.

ACP Abaa, who was addressing the opening of a CPU workshop in Koforidua on Wednesday for selected personnel in the region, noted that community policing was a concept on which the establishment of the modern day policing was based.

He observed that the police service had suffered neglects from the various communities in which they worked because of the failure to create a bond of friendship and collaboration between them and the communities, which had impacted negatively on the work of the service over the years.

ACP Abaa reminded the participants that they had been selected for the training based on their hard work and professionalism and should therefore replicate those values in their new schedules as the desk officers for the CPU in their various districts.

The Director of CPU, Chief Superintendent Alhaji Fuseini Suraji, said the participants were being trained to serve as desk officers for the CPU in all the districts in the region, as part of a national exercise to make police duties more effective and human centered.

According to him, the Police Administration in recognition of citizen-focused policing that met the expectation of all communities had directed that the CPU be strengthened in all the regions.

Chief Superintendent Suraji said the CPU desk officers required intelligence to be able to pick issues and information that had the tendency to degenerate into conflict for prompt action.

He said Policing in line with international standards was now based on rule of law and respect for human rights and urged the participants to use the CPU to enhance the image of the service in their respective districts.**