The Central Regional Police Command has cautioned politicians against engaging “macho men” as security in and around polling stations during the December polls, vowing to deal ruthlessly with such elements.

DCOP Charles Kofi Adu, the Regional Commander, who issued the warning, indicated that security for the Election 2024 rested solely with the police and entreated persons looking for security to engage the police.

He gave the assurance that the Command, would deploy adequate personnel to provide security at every polling station to ensure a peaceful process.

In a stakeholder interaction ahead of the polls, the Regional Commander also cautioned the media against taking on security matters and announced that personnel from the Police Intelligence Department would be deployed as liaison officers to work with them on matters pertaining to security.

“We don’t want a situation where the media will take the law into its own hands and try to address some of the security issues by itself.

“If you have any security concerns, share it with the liaison officer to communicate it to the Regional Command to inform the national headquarters,” he stressed.

Only journalists who had been accredited by the Electoral Commission (EC) would be permitted to cover the elections, he stated and asked journalists to always display their accreditation tags during the exercise.

DCOP Adu further appealed to journalists in the region to desist from spreading misinformation, disinformation and fake news, to ensure a peaceful election.

He warned that sharing unverified information could trigger emotions and spark violence to disrupt the electoral process and urged journalists to be circumspect in their reportage, crosschecking their facts and contact relevant authorities before reporting on issues.

“You play a critical role in this election and the public believes everything you say and so don’t report on anything based on hearsay, don’t report on what you have not seen.

“Report the facts as they happen and if you are not sure, verify from the appropriate persons,” he advised.

DCOP Adu said police want the election to be peaceful to demonstrate to the world that Ghana was indeed a unique country.