Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Ransford Ninson, Eastern Regional Commander, has appealed to the public to report any professional misconduct of a police officer to the regional command for appropriate action. He said the police administration was aware that there were some unscrupulous personnel among them and that it had a policy to weed out all those miscreants and therefore the public must help in that direction. DCOP Ninson, who was addressing the media in his maiden encounter with them in Koforidua, said since the police were always in the midst of the public, it was the public who could volunteer information to them for decisive action to be taken to redeem their image. He, therefore, charged the media to help educate the public that there was a channel for redress by reporting officers who misconducted themselves in the discharge of their duty and stop castigating them on air. The Regional Commander announced that 5,305 criminal cases were reported in the first quarter of the year, including 24 robbery, 13 murder cases, 12 each of abduction and rape, 47 defilement and 49 narcotic cases. He noted that the figures represented 20 per cent increase in the criminal cases recorded for the first quarter of the year as compared to last year and that night patrols and the "tent cities" concept would be strengthened to bring down the crime wave. According to him, the "tent city" concept introduced by his predecessor, DCOP Andoh-Kwofie, significantly impacted on the reduction of crime wave, adding that he intended to revive it and had requested for new tents to replace those worn out. He said 313 motor accident cases, which were reported in the region in the first quarter took away 52 lives while many others got injured. In that direction, the Regional Commander said his outfit would detail men on the highways, especially the Eastern portion of the Accra-Kumasi highway, to help reduce the spate of accidents on the roads. He added that road checks would be increased on the highways as well as education of both drivers and pedestrians, urging the media to support them with to facilitate the education.Source: GNA