Robbery rate has dropped significantly – Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama says criminal activities in Ghana have reduced drastically.

He said this while addressing the press at the Flagstaff House on Tuesday.
According to him, a cursory look at the statistics between 2013 and 2014 show that criminal activities have reduced by 5,000 incidents.

The country has in recent times recorded a number of robbery incidents that have in some cases led to the death of some victims.

In 2015, a Branch Sales Marketing Manager at Vodafone and a Fashion Designer among others were killed in seperate robbery attacks in their homes.

Despite these happenings, the President is optimistic government has taken some effective measures to make Ghanaians feel more secured.

“If you take a look at the statistics between 2013 and 2014, there has been a reduction in crime by 5000 incidents and we are seeing a consistent reduction in crime. You can see the dexterity with which the Police Service is carrying out its duties.”

He also said the retooling of the Police service and other policy decisions have reduced the Police to population ratio, which is close to UN’s acceptable figures.

According to the President in 2012, the ratio was 1 Police personnel to over 900 persons but this has reduced to 1:740, which a significant stride to UN’s 1:500.

“If you consider the various sectors, the security sector is one of the areas Ghana has made very massive investments. At the time we came into office, the Police Service had many challenges in terms of mobility in terms of availability of transport to be able to respond to crime situations…

“So what we did was to start a retooling not only of the Ghana Armed Forces but also of the Police Service and other security institutions and then also to begin a recruitment drive that will increase the numbers of Police personnel in order that they are able to check crime.”