Some residents in Accra and other major cities in the country think crime is on the ascendancy, however the police say the records show a decline. The residents say their lives have been endangered by the spate of armed robberies in their communities, a situation that has compelled them to take extra measures to protect themselves, saying they have lost confidence in the police following cruel attacks and in some cases, raping and killing of residents. But the police say recent reports of robberies are isolated cases. They say there is rather a reduction in robbery cases nationwide. Deputy Director General for the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service, ACP Joshua Dogbeda, said in August this year, 101 cases were recorded nationwide, nine cases short of that of July in the same year. He told Joy News’ Dzifa Bampoh that the robbery cases have reduced and gave a break down of major cases in August as follows: car-jacking 32, streets robbery 30, residential robbery 14, work place 8 and highways 17. He said policing is a shared responsibility and therefore urged residents to support the police so that they in turn can protect them ably. The rate of robberies attracted comments from the former Vice-President Aliu Mahama who called for more personnel to be recruited into the Police Service. “I believe with a stronger force, more recruitment into the forces, we should be able to stunt crime in this country.” Deputy Director General in Charge of Operations of the Ghana Police Service, DCOP John Kudalor concurred with the call, noting that “policing is about numbers as well as gadgets and logistics”. He was hopeful the STX housing project would be completed on time to boost the recruitment drive of the Service. DCOP John Kudalor urged estate developers to make provision for security posts at new residential areas “for the security men to be able to perform their lawful duty of protecting life and property”. He said the police administration has embarked on mapping Accra to find out were the police fall short of policemen. He also cautioned house owners to be mindful of the kind of people they allow to occupy their uncompleted residences. He said some of these people are crooks who study the corners of the building and later tend to rob them. Story by Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana