The Executive Director of the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) is calling for public cooperation in providing information on suspected criminals.

According to Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, the EOCO can only carry out its duty of crime investigation, prosecution and prevention if it has public support.

She told journalists in Kumasi during an official tour in the Ashanti region that receiving crucial information about criminal intents, plans, and activities is enough to prevent them from committing crimes. 

“Every crime prevention; crime investigation; crime detection depends on the information that we have. Those people who do bad things, they live with us. We attend church with them; we go to market with them. Some of them we know them.”

Established as a specialised intelligence-led law enforcement agency, EOCO investigates economic and organised crimes.

The Office has the authority of the Attorney General to prosecute economic crimes.

With offices in the regional capitals, members of the public can report crime by showing up physically at the offices or online.

Executive Director of EOCO, COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, wants public support in the discharge of their mandate.

“They need to give that kind of information to either EOCO or police or to any organization, law enforcement agency so that we all work together  and ensure that whatever they would be planning to do, they don’t really start.  We get to them and then we will stop them from doing it in the first place.”

COP Tiwaa Addo-Danquah (Mrs) has been touring the Ashanti region to seek support from other sister security agencies.

She has also been meeting staff of EOCO in Ashanti to encourage them to build and consolidate on gains made by the Office.

Meanwhile, COP Tiwaa Addo-Danquah has urged the public to have realistic expectations of the EOCO as it works relentlessly to fulfill one of its mandates: crime prevention.

According to her, EOCO’s mandate is not only about prosecution but also crime prevention.

“As part of our mandate, we also do prevention. We don’t wait for the things to happen before we prosecute people.

Most of the time you see EOCO doing more preventive. They don’t wait for the things to happen,” she said.

“For instance, if some people are not paying their taxes, EOGO goes in and they run to go and pay.  That’s what we want. We want EOCO’s work to impact on how GRA also gets their revenue. And the more that we work, the more it will inure to the benefit of GRA to get more revenue for the development of our  nation. So it’s not all about prosecution,” COP Tiwaa Addo-Danquah said.