For the past two years, the Ghana Police Service has transferred over 500 police officers from the Upper West Region without any replacement.
The number of Police officers in the region has reduced drastically from 1,500 to 900, according to reports.
The Police population ratio stands at 1:777, which does not meet the United Nations' Police population ratio of 1:500.
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The Regional Coordinating Council has attributed the emergence of crimes to the reduction of police officers working in the region.
The Deputy Regional Minister Issahaku Chinnia in an interview on Accra-based Starr FM said, the Interior Ministry and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) will be petitioned on the development in the region.
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He said "Between 2016 and 2017, out of the 1,500 personnel we had here, it has reduced to 917 which means that about 583 police personnel have been transferred without replacement. And that partly explains the reason why we have armed robbery situation in the region rising and a lot of criminal activities happening."
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He added that "The Police visibility in the region is going down as a result of these transfers. And so as a regional coordinating council, we have decided that we will formally write to the ministry of interior and the IGP to express our concerns on the manner in which Police people are being transferred from this area."