The Ghana Police Service in the Upper East Region on Thursday received 17 new vehicles from government to help it help boost its efforts at reducing crime in the region. The vehicles, most of which would be sent to Bawku for now, would aid the peace officers to stem the volatile situation there. Presenting the vehicles, the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr. Alhassan Samari attributed much of the police inability to bring total peace in the Bawku area to inadequate logistics such as means of transport. He said the number of vehicles given to the police which is the first of its kind in the history of the service in the region is a deliberate effort of government to ensure that they carried out their duties with efficiency and diligence and added that the vehicles should motivate them to work hard to halt the Bawku crisis. The Minister called for more support in terms of the provision of logistics to the service and said the fight to control the crime wave in society was not the duty of only the Police Service but that of all well-meaning Ghanaians who wish to have a peaceful society. “We therefore need all hands on deck to control criminal activities in the region.” The Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCOP, Ofosu Mensah Gyeabour, who received the vehicles warned that the police administration would apply the appropriate sanctions to officers who mishandle the vehicles. He said following this, the service is collaborating with the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority, DVLA, the National Road Safety Commission, NRSC, the Ghana Private Road Transport Union, GPRTU, and its Motor Traffic Transport Unit, MTTU, to give refresher training to the drivers on the country’s road codes, maintenance attitude as well as psyche them on other issues concerning vehicle use. The Police Commander commended government for the vehicles and said they came at the right time following series of activities in the region, including keeping the peace at Bawku, and the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary elections. Mr. Gyeabour pledged his outfit’s readiness to ensure that the crime wave in the region was brought to the barest minimum so that residents could go about their normal activities in peace. Source: GNA