The Director, Police Public Affairs Superintendent Paa Kwesi Ofori, on Friday urged the general public to regard the police as their friends and not enemies and report all crimes to them. He also urged the police to act fast when they are given information on crimes by the general public. Superintendent Ofori was speaking at the lunch of "Crime Fighters" initiative in Koforidua. The "Crime Fighters" initiative, championed by the British High Commission and the Ghana Police Service is to help create security awareness and reduce crime rates in the country. Superintendent Ofori observed that the Inspector General of Police was very particular about the project because it would help reduce crime rates in the country. He noted that the police administration was determined to combat the level of crimes in the country and called on the media, especially the local media to help create public awareness on the Crime Fighters initiative in the Eastern Region. Superintendent Ofori also urged the police to be ambassadors of the project by talking to their friends at Church and other places about it He expressed the police administration's profound gratitude to the British High Commission for championing the initiative. Ms Sarah Smitshurt, Crime Fighters Consultant from the Nottingham Police, launching the project, announced a toll free short code, 18555 for the general public to call from MTN and Vodafone networks to give out information on crimes. She called on all to contribute to help fight crimes in the country and expressed appreciation to MTN and Vodafone for being the only networks to support the project. The out-going Eastern Regional Police Commander, DCOP Ransford Ninson, in his welcoming address, observed that the public were sometimes afraid to give out information because they thought their identity would be disclosed. He therefore assured the general public that the police would protect their identities and act quick on their information. Mr Francis Chan, from MTN, said MTN believed that they had a responsibility to contribute to the welfare of the country and were always delighted to partner with like-minded organizations on sustainable social responsibility initiatives. He noted that as part of the efforts put in place to ensure the success of the initiative, they organized training programmes for police personnel in the area of customer service and call center management. He said the training was to ensure that personnel were equipped with the basic skills of handling complaints for effective delivery. He therefore encouraged the general public to save the Crime Fighters code on their mobile phones for easy reference to be able to report crimes of any kind to help police take the necessary action. Source: GNA