The Police Administration has resolved to deal ruthlessly with police personnel who disgracefully stand by the roadside to extort money from drivers in the name of enforcing road safety regulations. Giving the highlights of the police policy statement for 2011 at the first IGP's Weekly Parade organised at the National Police Headquarters in Accra yesterday, the IGP, Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, stated that road traffic accidents had been identified as a major challenge facing the service presently. He added that policemen who continued to drag the name of the police in the mud should stop it now because, "believe you me, when I say we shall stop it, we shall stop it". The IGP, therefore, urged policemen to enforce road traffic laws and regulations to the letter to ensure that the problem was confronted professionally without fear or favour. He also advised them to have both behavioural and attitudinal change to enhance the image of the Police Service. He warned criminals who were planning to disturb the peace of law-abiding citizens in the country to think again because the police would go all out to combat armed robbery and other violent crimes in the country this year. Mr Quaye said the police would embark on intelligence-led policing by targeting criminals, promoting the informant reward package system, among others, adding that the Narcotics Unit of the service had been restructured at the CID Headquarters and would be working hand in hand with regional police commanders throughout the country. He said as part of the strategies, many training activities had been carried out to enable the police to achieve the government's objective of making Ghana a drug-free country. According to the IGP, the community policing system was to be replicated in all the regions of the country to give effect to the determination of the service to solve crime-related problems by partnering civil society. He mentioned the high number of arrests made, especially in the area of combating armed robbery and car hijacking where a number of victims had been able to retrieve their vehicles, while a number of the robbers were facing trial at the law courts. The IGP asserted that the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), the launch of the five-year strategic national policing plan and the allocation given the police in the STX housing project were some of the successes chalked up by the Police Administration in 2010. "The Police Service was able to advertise its accommodation challenges well enough to attract the attention of the government to allocate a portion of the 30,000 housing units earmarked for security agencies to the police," he said. He said with regard to the SSSS, the police worked hard to put their books in order to give effect to the government's promise to implement the scheme at a time when a number of institutions were in doubt of its implementation. Mr Quaye also announced that Vodafone had joined the confidential crime fighters number of 18555 which was hitherto used only by MTN subscribers to call the police in times of emergency or when they wanted to offer information on criminal activities within their communities to the police. Source: Daily Graphic