As the Easter festivities approach, the national headquarters of the Ghana Police Service last week issued a statement warning that the ban on all public gatherings, as announced by President Akufo-Addo, is still in force and that anyone who breaches or flouts these orders will be dealt with according to the laws of the land.
Among these orders are the bans on religious congregation beyond 100 people, organisation of church services beyond the specified two hour period, gatherings at the beaches, organisation of funerals among a host of others. The devastating effect of the Covid-19 virus and the concomitant orders from the President notwithstanding, a section of Ghanaians are still disrespecting the Covid-19 protocols.
They still organise funerals, attend beaches and night clubs on the blind side of the law. If people are breaching the law with careless abandon, then one should expect a worse situation during the Easter festivities, a major event on the Christian calendar, where all sorts of gatherings are organised.
The Chronicle, therefore, sees the statement from the police as a timely one, since it forewarns would-be law breakers that the security agencies are monitoring them. A fortnight ago, the country painfully lost as many as 13 adolescents at Apam in the Central Region, after they defied warnings not to swim in the sea. We, at The Chronicle, do not expect to read or heard this kind of news again, and that is why we think the warning from the police is timely.
But whilst congratulating the police for their proactive action, we are also drawing their attention to the roads as well. Because of the careless manner people drive, road-related fatalities are always high during the Christmas and Easter holidays. We are, therefore, imploring the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and his team to deploy more personnel on our roads to check over speeding and careless over-takings, among a host of others.
But whilst calling for the deployment of personnel on our roads, The Chronicle is not in support of the idea of the police hiding themselves at the obscure corners of these roads, with the aim of arresting traffic offenders.
Such a posture will definitely defeat the purpose for which they were deployed on the roads. The aim of every police officer is to prevent crime, and not wait for the crime to be committed before acting.
In our view, the police personnel must be visible on the various routes to deter drivers from over-speeding or trying to make wrong over-takings, which often result in deaths. We are, however, happy that the police themselves have noticed this and appropriately addressed the issue in their statement under reference. “People who drive beyond speed limits, overload, drink and drive and indulge in such other traffic irregularities shall be arrested.” The statement noted.
The security agency also urged the public to continue to be vigilant and report all criminal activities to the nearest police station during and after the Easter celebration, and went ahead to release telephone numbers the public can use to contact them. This is a good policing technique and the public must take advantage of the situation and report social miscreants for the law to deal with them.
Police personnel cannot be policing every corner of the country – it is, therefore, the civic responsibility of every Ghanaian to support them to ensure an incident-free Easter celebration.
The post Editorial: Let’s support the police to ensure an incident-free Easter appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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