A multi-purpose police station worth millions of cedis has been inaugurated at New Abirem to provide security services to the increasing population in the Birim North District. The police station, which comprises a charge office, three cells for the juvenal, male and female suspects, an armoury, offices, and wash rooms was financed by Newmont Akyem Project, a gold mining company and the district assembly. The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Afram-Asiedu, who opened the office said, government has increased the number of police vehicles from 100 to 1,000 while the number of police personnel have also been increased from 11,000 to 20,000 since the past seven years. He commended Newmont for the assistance and said there could be no development without security and advised the people to avoid confrontations and use dialogue to solve any misunderstanding between them and the mining company. The Regional Minister said though the presence of the mining company would somehow degrade the environment in the area, it would also bring a lot of investments such as industries, educational infrastructure and also create employment for the people. He urged Newmont to assist in providing residential accommodation for the police, and assured that assistance would be given to the company to acquire the mining license to undertake full scale operation. The Deputy Eastern Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ampah Bernin said government alone could not provide all the needs of the police and appealed to communities, individuals and organizations to assist with offices and residential accommodation. He said crimes such as armed robbery as well as Chieftaincy and land dispute have increased and appealed to the people to co-operate with the police to enable them to clamp down on such activities. Mr Bernin advised the people not to take the law into their own hands such as lynching suspected criminals, but report all criminal activities to the police for investigations to ensure law and order in the country. The General Manager In-charge of Environment and Social responsibilities of the Newmont Akyem projects, Mr Robin Budden said the construction of the police station was in response to an appeal by the various Community Consultative Committees (CCC) to the company to provide them with adequate security in the area. He said Newmont was committed to working as partners to bring socio-economic development to the district. The District Chief Executive (DCE) the area, Mr Emmanuel Nana Acquah Frempong said police station would provide security for the people as well as the company. He said the District Assembly had plans to provide a fully furnished three bedrooms house to the District Police Commander and appealed to landlords to assist in providing accommodation to the police personnel. The Chief of Abirem, Nana Kwesi Amo Kyeretwie I, who chaired the function, commended the government for the numerous development projects in the town and appealed for the reconstruction of the New Abirim - Kade and the Oda - Nkawkaw roads, to facilitate the movement of goods and services in the area. Source: GNA