Foreign Policy and Security Analyst, Adib Saani has urged the government to modernise crime-fighting techniques adopted by the security agencies by investing in technology and infrastructure to help reduce incidents of crime across the country.
According to him, the current manual crime investigation processes adopted by the Police is way below international standards and best practices and did not encourage smooth, reliable, and speedy investigative process.
In an interview with Uniq FM ahead of President Akufo-Addo’s State of the Nation Address Tuesday, Mr Saani explained that automating the investigative processes “makes the business of crime unattractive†and demotivates perpetrators.
“We need to as a matter of urgency modernise crime-fighting techniques in Ghana. We need more crime labs in the country; we need all police officers, not just the forensic team trained in crime scene investigation and preservation of the crime scene because usually the police are the first respondent to the crime scene,†he said.
He added that “When you modernise crime-fighting, it makes the business of crime unattractive because if people know fully well that we are so advanced and that if they perpetrate this crime, they are more likely to be caught, they would be demotivated from committing the crime in the first place,†he said.
Mr Saani further urged the government to put in place a robust system that would integrate the cluttered biometric data of the various institutions into a single database to aid the security agencies in their investigative works.
Assessing the state of Ghana’s security over the period, Mr Saani said although the country had performed better in security management as compared to other countries in the sub-region, high crimes, including murder and armed robbery remained a major challenge.
Making reference to a report by the Ghana Police Service which revealed that over 500 Ghanaians are murdered annually, he indicated that the rising incident of crime should be a matter of concern for the government.
“We need to be worried as a country but not panic because we still have that golden opportunity to make amends,†he said.
Mr Saani also called on the government to commit adequate resources towards the implementation of the draft National Security Strategy once it is fully adopted by the country.
Being an ardent advocate of the policy, he touted a number of benefits to be derived if the policy is roundly implemented.
“Having a National Security strategy helps in effective planning and pre-empting emerging threats. If we had it in the past, we would have been able to prevent the Western Togolanders from visiting mayhem last year. My hope is that it doesn’t just remain a document. We have to dedicate resources to fulfil the provisions in that strategy,†he said.
Mr Saani applauded the installation of CCTV cameras on some major streets in the capital, but called for the adoption of better maintenance culture to ensure the sustainability of the devices.