A Former Director-General of the Police Criminal Investigations Department, COP Bright Oduro Rtd, has blamed the increasing crime rate on the failure to punish people who engage in criminal acts.
He told Dzifa Bampoh on the First Take on 3FM Monday May 24 that some people feel emboldened to commit crime because they believe they will not be arrested and punished.
He was commenting on the recent crime statistics given by Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery.
Mr Dery revealed that Ghana recorded 144 murder cases in the first quarter of 2021. This, he said, is compared to 123 in the first quarter of 2020.
Assuring that this matter will be addressed, Mr Dery said at the National Police Command Conference at Senchi in the Eastern Region on Thursday, May 20, that “one loss of life in Ghana is one life too many.”
Regarding robbery cases, he said “there was a drop from 525 to 495 cases, when comparing the first quarters of 2020 and 2021 respectively”
He further assured that the government committed to ensuring that justice for all those who were killed during last year’s polls..
“The position of the government has been and remains as I talk to you today that all outstanding murder cases be investigated, completed and Prosecution undertaken, and I tell you with all seriousness. I do ask the Director-General of CID to give me a report every week and he does. Yes, all cases are going to be completed within a short period of time that we expect”.
The Interior Minister added “We have realized that the two cases that we think have not yet been sorted out have to do with the Suale’s murder which we are following and then also recent alleged violence by Security agencies is being investigated. Our own JB Danquah’s murder you do realize has taken a number of years to be resolved.
“Those are things that you will find when you are dealing with Criminals but one thing I want to assure all of you is that the government is committed to investigating every criminal offence to its logical conclusion. Take it from me we cannot be influenced by one way or the other”.
Asked whether he is alarmed at these statistics, COP Bright Oduro said “I will not be alarmed like any other civilian. I was in this kind of job for some time and we met some of these challenges during my time as well. But it looks like these violent crimes are becoming too much. I was listening to the Interior Minister’s statistics, the crimes that have happened in the past few months or so. It looks quite alarming but as I said I will not be alarmed.”
Asked what could be causing these crimes, he answered “People will be encouraged to commit crime because they are able to cover up. They are able to commit crime and then escape and then it will be difficult for the security especially the Police to find them and so people are being emboldened.
“Somebody thinks this guy had s to be eliminated, they go and eliminate that guy and he goes into hiding, he is not identified, he is not arrested and he is not prosecuted.
“So people plan to commit crime and once they know in the past somebody did it and was not arrested I can also go in and commit so people are being embolden.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana