Police check point at Akwatialine
THE STREETS of Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, have been inundated by uniformed policemen who have mounted several road checkpoints in the city, lately.
The police checkpoints on the road have been increased significantly to the satisfaction of most residents of the city, notably victims of robbery acts but to the detriment of ghetto dwellers.
The reason for the massive presence of the police checkpoints on the streets of Kumasi has not been explained by the law enforcement agents.
But reports reaching DAILY GUIDE indicated that the upsurge in crime in the city lately had influenced the decision by the police to increase their numbers on the streets.
The paper observed that some of the police checkpoints which were mounted in the afternoon in the city were Akwatialine, Ahodwo and other places.
The presence of the policemen is perhaps to prove to the hoodlums in the city that the police are active and ready to face them squarely.
However, the presence of the police on the streets had so far failed to achieve its purpose of combating crime.
Strangely, the policemen are increasing their numbers on the streets where no intelligent criminal would operate.
Whilst the policemen openly displayed their uniforms and sophisticated weapons in public, the criminals also operated freely in some known ghettos in Kumasi.
These ghettos of the hoodlums are located in areas such as Krofrom, Ash Town, Bantama, Aboabo, Akurem, Dichemso, Alabar and Sawaba among other places.
Recently, some hoodlums shot and killed two people in the open at Ash Town and vanished into thin air.
Another person, Prince Blankson Anto was also shot dead at a drinking spot at Dichemso and the perpetrators of the heinous act also vanished without being arrested.
DAILY GUIDE is still at a loss as to what was preventing the police from taking the battle against the gangsters at the known ghettos in the city.
The paper could not state whether the police are afraid to engage the gangsters in their hideouts.
The mere police presence on the streets was not the antidote to crime in the city. The police are just using their presence on the street to score cheap points.
If the police are indeed serious to curb crime in the city, then they should invade the numerous ?wee? bases and other ghettos to fight the gangsters.
From I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi
